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Madhuri heads south

Rajitha

Madhuri Dixit

The lure of the south has netted yet another big name from the ranks of Bollywood's female stars.

In other words, Madhuri Dixit has signed on to do a Tamil film, opposite Arvind Swamy (whose Hindi outing, Saat Rang Ke Sapnay, opposite Juhi Chawla under Priyadarshan's direction, is ready for release), in a film titled Engineer.

When told the story -- a sci-fi tale -- Madhuri's first question was, how long did it take you to ready this story? Just three months, she was told -- much to her surprise, and stated amazement.

And the story -- of which the makers are as yet unwilling to reveal any details -- alone prompted Madhuri to sign on with a debutant director. Gandhi Krishna, to give him a name.

With Salman Khan. Click for bigger pic!

An engineer by education, scion of a farming family from the interior Tamil Nadu village of Rangasamudram, Krishna's curriculum vitae boasts the "assistant director" slot under whizkid director Shankar, in all his three megahit movies -- Gentleman, Kaadalan and Indian -- to date.

Asked to rate Krishna's abilities, Shankar said his main strength was his love for literature and, perhaps as a result, a very sure story sense. "I am glad my team has produced another director," said Shankar, now into the final stages of his own fourth film, Jeans, starring Aishwarya Rai opposite Prashant.

Produced by Ramchandra Rao, the film boasts a stellar line-up. The music is by A R Rehman, lyrics by Vairamuthu who, a couple of years ago, was installed Poet Laureate by the TN government, cinematography by Shankar regular Jeeva, with award-winning special effects expert Venky handling the FX on a film that provides plenty of scope for his brand of creativity.

Click for bigger pic!

Renowned author Sujatha -- beneath which feminine nom de plume lurks the male, Rangarajan -- handles the screenplay, based on Krishna's own story. "Behind the story of every big victory, there are little losses," said the author, about the kernel of the tale.

"In fact, when I was told the story, there was one line in it that attracted me and induced me to take up the job of writing the screenplay. 'When an elephant walks, little ants are crushed' was that line, and it is the theme of the story. We can't reveal too many details, but broadly, it deals with the agonies and ecstasies of Independent India."

Pre-production work is proceeding apace, and the film is due to go on the floors by mid-February.

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