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CinemaHere are some south Indian films where fathers have been supportive of their daughter's ambitions and dreams.Tnm StaffThe film industry in India often portrays dads as stern serious father figures in their daughter's lives. As mothers are shown to understand the needs of their daughters and act as close confidantes, when it comes to realising their ambitions, daughters are shown to eventually turn to their fathers, hoping to get some nudging and emotional support. This relationship of mutual trust has often translated into success stories, many of which have been captured in Indian cinema. Here are some examples from the south Indian film industry, where fathers have been supportive of their daughter's ambitions and dreams.  Anjali: Mani Ratnam's 1990 Tamil film is about a small child with intellectual disability. Since she's born with a terminal illness and likely to pass away in a few months, the doctors advise Shekar (Raghuvaran), the father,...

VivekVivek’s first film was ‘Manadhil Urudhi Vendum’ by K Balachander, that released in 1987.Anjana ShekarYouTube ScreengrabBorn Vivekanandhan in Tamil Nadu’s Kovilpatti, the Vivek that we know today came from a non-cinema background. His is an inspirational story that needs to be told with the light-heartedness akin to his comedies. And yet, it was not without hard work and failures, the complete truth of which only Vivek himself will know. Vivek, before entering the tinsel town, was a stage artist. A stand-up comedian who impressed audiences with his mimicry and pantomime. The main person behind Vivek’s entry into cinema was producer ‘Kala Kendra’ PR Govindarajan; however, it was director Balachander who gave him the opportunity to act in one of his films. In an interview with Thanthi channel, Vivek talks about his first meeting with director K Balachander. “He was a person whose style inspired some of my writing.

Entertainment The video has Arha in the role of Anjali, with her brother Ayaan, cousin Yuvaan and grandfather Allu Aravind also reprising various roles.Tnm StaffYouTube/Allu ArjunTelugu star Allu Arjun’s daughter Arha turned four on Saturday, and her family went all out to celebrate her birthday. The iconic song ‘Anjali Anjali’ composed by Ilaiyaraaja for the 1990 Mani Ratnam film Anjali was recreated with Arha in the role of Anjali, which was played by actor Shamili in the original version. The video is a nearly faithful remake, and Arha is seen in a plain white dress, playing with her brother Ayaan, cousin Yuvaan and other kids. Grandfather Allu Aravind also makes an appearance in one of the recreated scenes. “Happy Birthday My lil Arha! We shot a memorable video re creating the classic Anjali with my Daughter Arha. I wanted to share it with all my the well wishers...

Listicle The portrayal of the father-daughter bond in the newly released film 'Gunjan Saxena' has come under much praise.Tnm StaffGunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, based on the true life story of the first Indian woman to join the Iaf (Indian Air Force), has been getting rave reviews. The portrayal of the relationship between Gunjan (Janhvi Kapoor) and her father (Pankaj Tripathi) has particularly been appreciated. Gunjan belongs to an army family and her dream from childhood is to fly a plane. Since a flying course is too expensive, she signs up for the first batch of women who are allowed to join the Iaf on the suggestion of her father. While her brother and mother find her choice of career inappropriate, her father is always supportive, finding ways to keep his daughter's dream stay alive. Here are some south Indian films where fathers have been supportive of their daughter's ambitions and dreams.

Gender and SexualityIn films, divorce is seldom seen as a valid option and women, especially, are required to stick through a marriage however toxic it might be. CrisSindhu tries to avoid speaking to anyone at her new coaching class. A question or two later, they may find out that she is divorced and she hates to think of what’d follow. Jinu, another divorcee, hides her status, fretting over what would happen if people knew. Sindhu and Jinu* both live in Kerala, where divorce, like most other parts of the country, is frowned upon. Divorce is not easy – not just because of the hurt it may cause, but also because of the many judgments and unsolicited advice that would follow. Not surprisingly, popular culture also reflects the social discomfort with the legal procedure. Malayalam movies have mostly been unkind to women characters who choose divorce. Even men, in the rare...

TollywoodAt a time when filmmakers are experimenting with biopics and superhero subjects, it’s amazing to see such an easy-breezy film.Karthik KeramaluTelugu cinema seems to have made a promise to make at least one family film a year. By family films, I purely mean the largeness of the cast where members of a well-to-do family sing-and-dance, resolve their differences, shed tears as part of a nostalgic tribute and so on. Also, you can take your seniors and juniors along with you to the theatre and not have to hide your smile in the darkness of the hall (as is the case of adult comedies). 2016 had Brahmotsavam, 2017 had Sathamanam Bhavati and this year there's Ammammagarillu. I remember reading somewhere that we – as children – go to our maternal grandparents’ house to indulge in fun and frolic during summer holidays as our familial setting is such that we live with our paternal grandparents for most of our childhood (and well into adulthood, too, many a time!). Santhosh (Naga Shourya) might be considered an emotional fool in today’s times. He wants to bring together his egotistic uncle (Rao Ramesh), gold-loving aunt (Hema), unsmiling workaholic uncle (Sivaji Raja) and another money-minded uncle (Ravi Prakash) to cheer his grand mom (Sumithra) up. The film treads along familiar lines – it is set in a small town, the hero’s aunts and uncles live in different cities, the hero has a crush on his first cousin – and packs in enough sentiments to make you sit without looking at the exit for two and a half hours. At a time when filmmakers are experimenting with biopics and superhero subjects, it’s kind of amazing to see such an easy-breezy film occupy the big screens. I have said this before and I’m saying it again – Rao Ramesh is a delight to watch. Whether he’s repeating his Brahmotsavam avatar (as a person who wants to earn name and fame without anybody’s emotional support) or monkey-dancing to “Kevvu Keka”, he uncreases the proceedings with his mirthful acting. There’s a quaint scene that stayed with me long after the film ended. Peketi Baburao (Rao Ramesh) calls out to his daughter from the gate – he shouts, “Amma, Amma” in an endearing tone and his mother appears first, but he continues to shout, “Amma, Amma” till his daughter (Shamili as Seetha) arrives. The mother, at this point, reluctantly retraces her steps and fades into a corner. This scene plays out a couple of times until Baburao realises his fallacy. It’s a brilliant setup that ends in the typical mother-son hug. The producers would have surely clapped with tears of joy when listening to this situation during the narration. Though Shamili isn’t reduced to a prop, it’s appalling to see what she’s offered. In fact, Shakalaka Shankar has more memorable dialogues and things to do in the movie than the leading lady. After her character’s playful introduction (at two different ages), she turns into a caricature. Sundar Surya, the writer-director, probably didn’t know what to do with her. He also gives too much importance to dialogues. Whenever a character begins to thank Santhosh for making her/him recognise the true worth of relationships, there’s a sermon about how they lost those sepia-drenched memories to the drudgery of adult life. Has the director ever heard of “show, don't tell”? The over usage of dialogues also crushes the film’s capacity to soar beyond the village-based movie template. Several attempts have been made to retell the magic of Krishna Vamsi’s classics: Ninne Pelladatha and Murari. But Ammammagarillu looks like one of those half-hearted efforts. The quality of Vamsi’s love story in Murari or the geniality in Ninne Pelladatha is untouchable. Why, even the same director couldn’t recreate that warmth in Mogudu and Govindudu Andarivadele!

Actress Shalini’s youngster sister Shamili made her debut for the first time as a child artist in Manirathnam’s ‘Anjali’. It has been decades the film was released and still today it remains as a close to heart film. She recently made her onscreen debut with Siddarth’s ‘Oye’ that received lukewarm response.

Previously, the actress had been to Singapore School of acting and has now got back there again to learn direction. Apart from direction, she will be mastering the course of Film Commerce and Technology and will return to Chennai after a year. The closer sources have revealed that she will be giving more priority to acting and then to direction. Once she is back in Chennai, she will be signing more projects to act.

Former child actor Baby Shamili has now dropped the Baby tag and is simply Shamili. The former star of Mani Ratnam’s Anjali, in which she played a mentally-challenged child and for which she won a National Award, has bagged a role in Rama Narayanan’s new movie Kutti Pusasu. She will begin shooting as soon as she finishes her film-making course in Singapore in April.

Shamili made her first adult appearance last year opposite Sidharth in Oy! This was her first appearance for nine years - what caused the big break? “I used to be very busy as a child artist,” she says, “But my dad and mom insisted on my education. So I took a break for a while and completed my education.”

Shamili has happy memories of her time as a child actor. “On the sets, Chiranjeevi sir and Sridevi aunty used to play with me and give me chocolates,...