Paramhamsa Nityananda, who is considered close to God, was caught in a sex scandal which infuriated his devotees. The Godman, 32, originally from Tamil Nadu, was caught on camera with two women, indulging in sexual acts, a forbidden passion as far as spiritual gurus are concerned. One of the two women is a well known Tamil Actress Ranjitha, who has worked in a number of movies as well as TV serials.

It is said that you can see a person’s soul by looking into their eyes. Gestures can convey far more than what words can. And this is more true in the case of 19 year old Abhinaya, whose name means ‘to perform’ and she is a performer, an actress. And what is special about this youngstser? One might ask. Abhinaya has worked against all odds and overcome her disabilities to become an actress. Abhinaya is deaf and mute by birth.

Born to Mr Anand Varma , an ex serviceman with the Indian Air Force and , Mrs Hemalatha ,a house wife, Abhinaya did not cry or react to any sounds for almost two weeks after birth. Even though her parents informed the doctor about this their pleas were not heard. For two years Abhinaya did not stand, crawl or even sit by herself. It was only after consultations with many doctors that her parents were guiding along the right path. Abhinaya was enrolled into the Oral School for the deaf at Marredpalli where she was rehabilitated. Abhinaya went on to study at the Montessori School and St Ann’s School in Taranaka. “Even though I studied in normal schools I could not complete my education. I have studied only up to the 7th standard because of difficulties that I had faced. But I intent to at least finish 10th standard” says this chirpy girl with the never-say-die attitude.

It was Abhinaya’s father who encouraged his daughter to act, an unlikely field for a girl with her kind of challenges. “On the day she was born I knew that I wanted her to become an actress and that is why I named her as ‘Abhinaya’”, said the visibly proud father, who has acted in a couple of films himself “I used to take her to film shootings. Every time she would see a film poster she would gesture that she wanted to be on them. We have only encouraged her thereafter”.

After a Cochlear Implant surgery at the age of 12 years Abhinaya was able to distinguish beats of different sounds “I can make out different beats. We speak English at home, mostly. So I can make out the difference in the sounds in that language.” said Abhinaya, who communicates with the help of her mother’s translations. In fact it is Mrs Hemalatha , who reads and translates the scripts to Abhinaya. Before a shoot Mrs Hemalatha translates the dialogues and explains what expression is needed and what lip movements are required.

Her first movie break came when Tamil film director Samudra Kanni spotted her photographs and asked her to star in his movie ‘Nadodigal’ “My father would meet with directors and producers he knew and tell them about me. Once he had given my snaps to Malayalam director Sleeba and it was near him that director Samudra Kanni saw me. After knowing about me he wanted to prove that nothing is impossible and signed me on to act in his movie.” Both director Samudra Kanni and Abhinaya were lauded for their work by the audiences as well as the critics. “I owe it all to my parents. My mother has worked hard. A day before the shoot my mother sits with the director and asks him what needs to be done. She then tells me the dialogues and how to perform. The first time I saw myself on screen I touched my parents’ feet and cried. It is only because of them that I am what I am today. When they see my pictures in the paper and posters, the happiness that my parents and brothers feel, knows no bounds”.

Abhinaya is presently on a roll, having acted as actor Ravi Teja’s sister in the formers latest film ‘Sambho Siva Sambho’ also starring Allari Naresh and Siva Balaji. Abhinaya is now getting set to work in her second Tamil film to be directed by Shashi Kumar. “Once I have achieved what I have set out for, I would like to help the poor live a better life” saying this ever smiling girl who becomes an inspiration for whom ever she meets.

Distributors 20th Century Fox say it has earned more than $350m (£217m) in the US and more than $670m (415m) in the rest of the world in only 17 days.

The 3D science fiction blockbuster was directed by James Cameron, who also made Titanic, the best selling movie of all time.

The latest figures make Avatar already the fourth-biggest film ever made.

Ahead of it are Titanic ($1.8bn; £1.1bn), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12bn; £695m) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07bn; £664m).

Avatar – about a disabled marine who infiltrates a race of giant blue aliens – combines live action with digitally-enhanced performances.

It was reportedly the most expensive film ever made, with a budget of at least $300m (£186m).

Expensive tickets

“This is like a freight train out of control,” said 20th Century Fox distribution executive Bert Livingston. “It just keeps on going.”

“I think everybody has to see Avatar once, even people who don’t normally go to the movies, they’ve heard about it and are saying, ‘I have to see it’,” he said. “Then there are those people seeing it multiple times.”

Avatar has now reached most parts of the globe. It opened in China on Saturday and is due to reach Italy – its final market – on 15 January.

The huge box office takings are partly down to the higher cost of tickets for 3D performances, says the BBC’s Peter Bowes in Los Angeles.

But with Hollywood entering its traditional slow season, with few big films due for release, Avatar is likely to dominate the box office for several more weeks, he adds.

India moved to the top of the test rankings on Sunday by completing a second straight innings victory over Sri Lanka.

India won by an innings and 24 runs to claim a 2-0 victory in a dominant performance across the three-test series.

“It took some sustained effort to become the No. 1 team in tests, but the really tough task starts now in having to maintain this position,” India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.

“When we were pushed, the batsmen came up with some outstanding performances, and the bowler got wickets to put the opposition under pressure.”

Soundarya Rajinikanth’s Ocher Studios produced Goa is in deep trouble now. Directed by Venkat Prabhu, the producer is not able to release the film on her superstar father’s birthday. The Madras High Court has passed an interim order not to release the film till December 11, in a case filed by a Chennai based financier against the film.

According to the petition submitted by Varun Maniyan, Soundarya had taken a loan of Rs 1.60 crore from him, of which Rs 1.10 crore was given from office funds and the remaining Rs 50 lakh drawn from his personal fund.

In his petition Manian says that at the time of taking a loan Soundarya had signed only a promisory note and had not signed a loan bond. However Ocher had written to him acknowledging the receipt of the loan and to pay interest at 24 percent. Now as per Manian’s lawyer, she is not keeping her promise on the repayment of the loan
.

Now Varun is forced to move to the court and get back his loan, as Ocher Studio’s Goa is getting ready for a Pongal release. The Madras High Court has stayed the release of the film till December 11 and ordered to issue notices to Soundarya Rajini and Latha Rajini.

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Nominees List has brought cheers to the Indian subcontinent. Madras Maestro, Rahman, is nominated for the global smash hit Jai Ho (From Slumdog Millionaire) in the best song written for Motion Picture, Television or other Visual Media category. Along with Rahman, Gulzar and Tanvi Shah’s names are also featured in the nomination.

With Oscar in his hand already, Grammy would be a piece of cake for Rahman, movie analysts suggest.

Known for doing his balancing act to perfection, Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi has announced that Eldams Road and Arcot Road (the hub of Kodambakkam) will be renamed after the tinsel legends Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth respectively.
The request to name Eldams Road as Dr. Kamal Haasan Salai was put forth by actor Sarathkumar at Vijay TV’s felicitation function to celebrate Kamal Haasan’s 50 years in the industry.

Now the news is that Kalaignar is only too happy to honour these living legends with the birthdays of Kamal Haasan falling on November 7 and Rajinikanth on December 12.

Only recently, Kalaignar thrilled their fan clubs with his announcement of the State awards where Rajinikanth was adjudged the best actor award for Sivaji and Kamal for Dasavatharam.

It is learnt that the CM’s announcement about these roads being renamed will occur around Diwali.

Maybe, ‘Kanthaswamy’ would’ve got a big collection in box office, but actor Vikram has indirectly accepted that the film hasn’t been fair enough in his career. He has mounted all his hopes on his upcoming bilingual film ‘Raavana’ directed by Manirathnam. The Tamil version features him in the role of protagonist while on the other opposite role in Hindi.

His portions will be completed by 22nd October and the actor has given dates to Kanagarathna Movies Ramesh for the untitled film to be directed by Selvaraghavan. The entire film will be shot across various locales of India including Ladahk, Goa and Mumbai. Tentatively, ‘Subramaniapuram’ fame Swathi has been roped in for starring opposite him in female lead. Nothing has been revealed about the film’s storyline or nature of it.

Kamal Haasan has issued a press statement making it clear that neither he nor his production house Raj Kamal International has received any stay order for the release of his forthcoming film Unnai Pol Oruvan.

The actor states in the press note that he worked exclusively for Marmayogi for one year and later came to realize that Pyramid Saimira could not fund the project any further. Kamal also points out that he has lost several offers during that time and incurred a loss of income of Rs. 40 crores.

According to the press release: “I have also caused a suit to be filed in the High Court of Madras against Pyramid Saimira. Probably, to counter my legal action against them, they have decided to go to the press on a smear campaign and they have sent me a notice making wild and false allegations. An interim Reply also has been sent to it.”

Kamal also mentioned that he would take legal action against the production house for trying to tarnish his image.

Popular director Vikram Kumar of Yavarum Nalam fame is all set to start his new project. The film is given a novel title Twenty Four. Sources say that Twenty Four is allo about the incidents that occurs in a single day.

We are aware that Vikram is good at entertaining the audience with his innovative style which was very well captured in his TV serial concept in Yavarum Nalam. Similarly, this new venture also will be a story of difference it is expected.

Twenty Four will have actor Vikram playing the lead character.