Virumandi‘s shooting has begun. My assumption is that Kamal’s Sandiyar would be renamed as Virumandi – the protagonist’s name. He has reportedly started shooting yesterday in an undisclosed place. However the title is to be yet to be confirmed by him. After his recent encounters with the Tamilnadu politicians, Kamalhassan is pretty cautious about his moves and he is aware that he is closely watched.

The media is reporting that Mani Ratnam’s latest bi-lingual(!) flick is being shot in Chennai’s Boat Club Road. A Kolkatta look-alike set has been erected for the same as thwe story is said to happen in Kolkatta. The film stars Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi, Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee and Simran. The film is being shot in sync-sound (direct recording of voices and no dubbing). The first Indian film in this category was Kamalhassan’s Hey Ram. Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai also sync-sound technology. It is being said that after the film is shot, Mani will start shooting the same film in Tamil.

However, these are just rumors as there is no confirmed news from Mani’s side. I am very skeptical about this news. I firmly believe Mani Ratnam is the last person who wants to redo the same film again. All his films have been taken once and have been dubbed into other languages. From Kavithanjali (dubbed as Idhayathai Thirudathey) to Dilse (dubbed as Uyire) have been made once. He once remarked in an interview that the most boring thing is to redo the same film. Even Saathiya, which was a re-make from Alai Payuthey, was directed by Shaad Ali, his assistant.