Amrita TV’s Vishu Specials

As Vishu arrives, bathing the State  in the auspicious yellow of the konnapoo, Amrita TV prepares a bouquet of  Kani programmes for its viewers.

The   day begins on a lyrical note with Kavithayude Kaineettam, that  gifts its viewers with exquisite compositions in verse from the best bards of Malayalam, ONV,  SugathaKumari and Madhusudhanan Nair, who recite their own poems, recounting their Vishu reminiscences through the fluid grace of rhymes at  7.30 am.

In Aksharangalude Vishukkani at  8.30 am, gliding gently down the tranquil waters of the Bharatapuhza, noted writer C.Radhakrishnan explains to Alamcode Leelakrishnan, the actual significance of this  ancient agrarian festival commemorating the birth of the Malayalam New Year; paints a verbal picture of the event as it was celebrated in all its splendor and richness 50 years ago; describes the profusion of rituals and rites associated with the fete, that has since shrunk into a kani and a kaineettam.

Providing a musical interlude,  Pattinte  Kaineetam gives a windfall of the best foot tapping numbers from the top grossers of Vishu at  10 am. 

New Releases , a detailed rundown of the Vishu movie scene, where blockbusters and shoe stringers clash for collections at the box-office: Mayamohini, Dileep’s full-length female makeover, as the seductive Mohini; comedy thriller Cobra that sees Mammoootty teaming with Lal for the 1^st time; Thiruvambadi Thamban with Jayaram as an elephant contractor; Ashiq Abu’s eagerly awaited 22 Female Kottayam with g Rima Kallingal and Fahad Fazil in the lead and so on will follow at  10.30 am

At 11.30 am, Sauhridathinte Vishukkani  crosses over into Tamilnadu to beard superstar Sharath Kumar in his own lair, in Thenkassi where he is the lord of all he surveys. He talks at length about his political ambitions, film career, the challenges thrown up the most difficult role of his cinematic life, that of the hijda in ‘Kanchana’, in which the alpha male with his muscular frame had to look dainty and feminine.

An hour long exuberant Goan carnival, Mathapum Poothiriyum at 12 noon , stops by Saji Surendran’s ‘Husband’s in Goa’, a romcom that is being shot into shape on location, on

 3 decamping husbands who cut loose from their wives and live it up in Goa. Together, the TV team and the film crew paint the town red, hitting the top destinations and the hot spots: in between there is fun n’ frolic on the beaches with Lal, Indrajith, Jayasuriya, Asif Ali and Rima Kallingal in top form; camaraderie and high spirits when Sarayu interviews the 3 ‘husbands’; interactions with the director and cameraman that reveals juicy behind- the-scenes stories and so on.

Manthrikante Vishukkani slated for 2 pm, spends this Vishu in the company of Jayaram and Ramesh Pisharadi in Coorg on the sets of the comic horror flick, ‘Manthrikan’.

 Exchanging their ‘supernatural’ experiences, Jayaram recalls how he arrived at the film location –an ancient palace- late after midnight, was shown to his room by the caretaker who helpfully informed the sleepy actor that the owner’s wife had committed suicide in the very spot not long ago and Jayaram suddenly found himself very wide awake ….

The Vishu special movie, Orma Mathram is a realistic depiction of the trauma undergone by a young couple, whose only son is reported missing in a bomb blast in their vicinity. Dileep portrays with sombre ease, the harrowing ordeal of the father caught in the dilemma of  not knowing whether his son is dead or lost, in one of the best performances of his career. Supported by Manoj K Jayan, Dhanya Mary Varghese, Nedumudi Venu, Lalu Alex etc the film will be aired at 2.30pm.

Heroyude Pattu Visheshangal at  7.00pm looks in on the sets of the latest Prithviraj starrer ‘Hero’, for which the youth idol has crooned  a song and danced to his own tune .Prithvi, an actor by choice became a singer by chance when Deepak Dev urged him to take up the microphone for ‘Puthiya Mukham’; in Hero, where he plays a stunt master, Prithvi gets his 2^nd outing in playback in the song  ‘Tarzan Antony Coming Back to Cinema’. During the interview in which director Deepan,lyricist Shibu Chakravarthy and Music Director Gopi Sunder also chip in, he reveals how he became a singing star, how the song was little rehearsed but well sung, the picturisation of the number costarring Yamee Gautam etc.

Movie Bazar at  7.30 pm is devoted to a coverage of the audio release of  Mohanlal’s forthcoming cop story, Grandmaster,  a lavish  function attended by its complete cast and crew.

 By

Smitha Sivaji

Amrita TV Lines Up Vacation Specials For Its Young Audience

With the beginning of the two month long annual mid-summer holidays, children who have been delivered from the daily grind of school and homework, find time beginning to hang heavily on their hands.

Amrita TV pampers its kid viewers, freshly liberated from lessons and exams, with programmes that have immense child-appeal: film adaptations of famous children’s classics such as Mowgli, Malgudi Days & Tarzan.

This kid’s band devised to capture their hearts and eyeballs alike, will be telecast during weekdays Monday to Friday at 5 pm.

Mowgli the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling’s all time favourite, The Jungle Book, is the imaginative tale of a young boy who was separated from his parents as a baby during a tiger attack and raised by wild wolves in the deep Indian Jungles, as one of the pack.

Edgar  Rice Burrough’s Tarzan, one of literature’s best known characters narrates the story of the ape-man born in Africa and adopted by a she ape; Malgudi Days is a series based on R.K Narayan’s renowned work that gives an account of the daily exploits of

10- year old Swami and his friends in the quaint little town of Malgudi.

The live-action visualization of unforgettable literary masterpieces that will give its young viewers a taste of the world’s timeless classics, has been dubbed into Malayalam for better understanding.

By Smitha Sivaji