The 56th Film Fare award was held at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) on July 31, 2009 amidst glitz and glamour.

The award for the best Tamil film went to Subramaniapuram and the best director was awarded to Sasikumar for the same film.

The best actor award was bagged by Suriya for Vaaranam Aayiram and best actress went to Parvathy of Poo fame.

The awards for the best supporting actress was given to Simran for Vaaranam Aayiram and best supporting actor went to Ajmal for his performance in Anjathey and Noop Menon for Thirakatha.

Harris Jayaraj was presented with the best music composer award for Vaaranam Aayiram. Best playback singer in the male category went to Naresh Iyer for the same film.

Best playback singer in the female category went to Deepa Mariam for Subramaniapuram and best lyricist is Thamarai for the song Nenjukkul Peithidum in VA..

Dhanush’s next film is a remake of the 1989 super hit Rajinikanth film Maapillai with the same title.

The film, (often referred to as Padikkathavan-2) is going to be directed by Suraaj and produced by Hitesh Jabak.

Says Dhanush: “It is the only film of Rajinikanth that I always wanted to remake. I know that remaking old classics is not easy and by doing so, we are not disrespecting them. There are hundreds of youngsters who have not seen the old movie. If the same story is presented in a different format with improved technology, it will appeal to them”.

The buzz is that Suraaj is making the necessary changes to suit today’s youth audiences with more comedy. The hunt for the characters made memorable in the original by Srividya and Amala, are in full swing.

The basic concept of the film is based on Shakespeare’s immortal play “Taming of the Shrew”, which has a universal appeal, if presented well.

Dhanush also adds that, Maapillai will be the last and only film which he will be remaking from the Rajinikanth library of old classic

Mani Ratnam is planning to shoot the climax of his magnum opus Raavan in his favourite Chalakudy forest locations from July 16.

The buzz is that the artists who are doing this tri-lingual in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu mainly Abhishek Bachchan, Vikram and Aishwarya Rai have told the director that they have already given him over 100 days, and they cannot spare any further dates.

Mani and his buddy cameraman Santosh Sivan is planning to shoot the climax for the next 45 days in Chalakudy and Mysore forest areas. They have to shoot deep inside forest areas, for which permissions have to be granted by the respective state governments.

Added to that a few helicopter scenes inside forest areas have to be shot, for which special permission have to be obtained. Let us hope that Mani is successful in his mission to complete Raavan, this time.