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After the stupendous successes of Ayan with Suriya and Tamannah, and Ko starring Jiiva, Karthika, Ajmal and Piia, National Award winning cinematographer-turned-filmmaker K V Anand has become one of the hot directors in Tamil and Telugu.

The Tamil version of Ko has completed 100 days of screenings and is racing towards 100 days in Telugu. Naturally, his next film, Maatraan is one of the most talked about films. More so because the film stars the hottest star in Tamil, Suriya.

"Suriya will portray more than one character in the film," Anand said. The film also stars Kajal Agarwal.

The film is produced by AGS Entertainment Pvt Ltd which has produced successful films like Myna, Madarasapatinam and EngeyumKadhal. Music is by Harris Jeyaraj and dialogues by Subha, the successful duo who wrote the dialogues of Ayan and Ko.

On Saturday, Suriya celebrated his birthday on the sets of Maatraan, in Chennai, where shooting is underway. 

Ganesh Venkatraman is popular for his action roles -- an undercover cop in Unnai Pol Oruvan' with Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal, and as the army commando in Kandahar with Mohanlal and Amitabh Bachchan.

Ganesh has now completed shooting for his Tamil film Pani Thuli, a romantic thriller shot across the USA and Chennai. The film will release this year.

Ganesh has also recently signed on to play a role in the mega budget Telugu socio fantasy Damarukam, with Nagarjuna and Anushka. The film is said to be in the genre of films like Magadheera and Arundhati. The film has 50 minutes of special effects and lots of action. He is currently shooting for the film in Hyderabad.

Ganesh, who was born and brought up in Mumbai, is also shooting for his first Hindi film, Mahesh Bhatt's Kuch Log along with Urvashi Sharma, Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover, Rati Agnihotri, and Neelima Azeem.

Dam 999, the English film made by Sohan Roy, will be distributed by Warner Bros Pictures. It will release in November.

A trailer of the movie was shown in cinemas all over India along with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Roy says, "I feel that Warner Bros's interest to take up the distribution is a great recognition for the movie. It is also a matter of joy that the trailer of Dam 999 is exhibited along with one of the world's greatest movies ever made, Harry Potter , in around 600 cinema houses. Our movie has a strong social message and I believe that it will be an unforgettable viewing experience for viewers in India and abroad."

Dam 999 will also be released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

The director says that the 3D movie produced by BIZ TV Network, UAE "takes the viewer through India's great contributions in Ayurveda, the concept of Navagrahas and Yoga with a thrilling story as the backdrop. The film shows India's original aesthetic concepts of the nine cardinal emotions of human beings, the 'Navarasas'."

Sixteen national and international award winners from nine different film industries have been roped in for this venture. The international crew has Eric Sherman as the project consultant, Rob Tobin as the script doctor and Uzma Xina Kang as the casting director.

The Indian crew includes critically acclaimed names like Ajayan Vincent, Suresh Pai, Padmasree Thotta Tharani, Ashish Vidyarthi, Rajit Kapur and Gary Richardson, Vinay Rai, Vimala Raman, Megha Burman, Joshua Fredric Smith, Jaala Pickering, Linda Arsenio and Jineet Rath.