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A lot of films have been at the centre of controversies in all the years I have been an observer of the film trade. Some, because they chose a subject where a certain community was at the centre of the story, some, while they were attempting a realistic film, and some others who loved a book penned by a renowned writer, decided it was worth retelling it as a film and getting brickbats in return.

Take, for instance, ‘Ramnagari’ by Ram Nagarkar. The film was made by the National Award-winning filmmaker Kantilal Rathod in 1982. Objections were raised against certain references in the film and the Censor Board stalled its release. The problem Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Billu Barber’ faced some 27 years later was similar. The community known as Nayi or Hajam is called Barber in English.

In later years, these examples were followed by communities on a larger scale and somewhere along the way,...

Let us not confuse our patron as talk about a striking similarity between two diverse genre films, Vicky Kaushal?s cross border andnbsp;anti terrorism film Uri- The Surgical Strike andnbsp;and Satyavati Sharma?s ?s cult classic devotional film Jai Santoshi Maa .

Well, we are not going to discuss the merits and demerits of the two above mentioned films, rather, let us talk about the Roi (return on investment) aspect.

For those who came in late, Jai Santoshi Maa, which released in 1975, had paltry budget of 5 lakhs and went on and on and ended up netting a huge 5 crore.

Circa 2019, Uri- The Surgical Strike andnbsp;with a production cost of just 30 crore is on a seemingly endless run and has thus far netted nearly 240 crore and still counting and is headed for a big Roi. The film has additionally grossed $6.25m from the overseas.andnbsp;

The similarity doesn?t end there,...

EntertainmentThe director confirmed that his crew would comprise cameraman Santhosh Thundiyil, who was the cinematographer for Rustom and Krrish. Digital NativeDigital NativeMohanlal’s upcoming film, which will be directed by Ajoy Varma, will have its crew entirely from Bollywood. The director confirmed that his crew would comprise cameraman Santhosh Thundiyil, who was the cinematographer for Rustom and Krrish, stunt master Sunil Rodriguez of Golmaal Again and Singham Returns fame and Serena Tixeria, who worked as the make up artiste in 3 Idiots and Dhoom. The film is written by Saju Thomas. The director is yet to reveal the rest of the crew members. While Mohanlal plays the main lead in the movie, it has Parvathy Nair playing the female lead. In an interview to ToI, she said, "As I will be acting alongside him, there will be this constant fear of how I will match up to his performance. That's something I am really nervous about.” The star cast also includes Suraj Venjaramoodu, Dileesh Pothan and Sai Kumar. Touted to be a travel movie, the film has not been titled yet. The shooting of this untitled film is expected to go on the floors soon after Mohanlal is done with Odiyan, which is said to be in the final stages of shooting. Ajoy Varma is an acclaimed film editor having worked in films such as Jai Santoshi Maa, Shikar, Nothing But Life and Beyond the Soul. He then ventured into direction and has helmed the movie Srk, which starred Manoj Joshi, Vinay Pathak, and Dilip Prabhavalkar. Meanwhile, Mohanlal is busy with Odiyan, a fantasy thriller, that is being directed by Va Shrikumar Menon. The star cast of this film includes Manju Warrier as the female lead with Prakash Raj, Siddique, Innocent, Narain, Kailash, Sana Althaf, Appani Sarath and Nandhu in supporting roles. M Jayachandran and Cs Sam are composing tunes for the songs and Bgm respectively while Shaji Kumar is cranking the camera and John Kutty is the editor. Odiyan, made on a high budget, is bankrolled by Anthony Perumbavoor under his banner Aashirvad Cinemas.