After Tamil actor-cum-politician Sarath Kumar vowed the Malayalam audience with his stunning performance in Pazhassi Raja, it is the turn of actor/director R Parthiban to test the waters in Malayalam.

For the first time in his career, he is acting in a Malayalam film Melvilasam directed by Madhava Ramdas. The film also stars Suresh Gopi and Tamil actors Nizhalkal Ravi and Thalaivasal Vijay.

The interesting thing is that Parthiban has dubbed in his own voice for Melvilasam.

The news from the International Cinema Festival of India, Jaipur is that Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, wife of Udhayanidhi Stalin has won the Best Director Award in the Worldwood International Category (Short Film & Documentary) for her short film Life.

There were 600 entries out of which 100 were feature films and 500 short and documentary films. From the 500 short films, 100 short and documentary films were nominated under the competition section of the festival from 13 countries. 

Life is a compilation of three short films -- 'Life', 'Love' and 'Hope' -- directed by Kiruthiga, Mysskin and M Sasikumar. The stories on HIV/AIDS revolve around a little girl called Ammu and her encounters with people and life, which are sometimes tough and at other times, full of hope.

The first in the trilogy, 'Life' is about Muthukumar, a man with no knowledge of HIV/AIDS. He reacts in the most inhumane way when he meets Ammu everyday but when he is saved by the same child, he realises that fate plays an unfair game whether it is his life or hers!

'Love' is about those children who are orphaned and affected by HIV/AIDS  while 'Hope' is about a child who loses her entire family to the disease and has to face the future on her own.

After the stupendous success of Vinnathandi Varuvaya, a love story, Gautham Vasudev Menon is ready with his song-less psychological thriller, Nadunisai Naigal.

The film was supposed to release today but was pushed forward to February 18 as Cloud Nine Movies' Thoonganagaram and Mysskin's Yudham Sei are both releasing today.

Menon and his team believe it is healthy for the industry if all films have a good run at the box office and that a February 18th release will allow for breathing space between films. A welcome trend indeed!

Nadunisi Naigal was cleared by the censors without any visual cuts and given an 'A' certificate. The film stars Sameera Reddy and Menon's Assistant Veera in the lead roles along with four newcomers.

The story revolves around the antagonist/protagonist Veera and the unraveling of his mind one fateful night. The makers claim that it is the only real psychological thriller in Tamil cinema after the 1978 Bharathiraja blockbuster Sigappu Rojakkal with Kamal Hassan in the lead.