Flintoff named in CSK squad

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is one step closer to a return to top-flight cricket after being named in the Chennai Super Kings’ preliminary squad for the Airtel Champions League Twenty20.

The 32-year-old, who has not played first-class cricket since the Ashes series in England last year, has been named in a star-studded 20-player CSK squad for the second edition of the 10-team tournament which will be played in South Africa from 10-26 September.

With eight of the nine confirmed teams for the tournament having named their preliminary squads – with the exception of Wayamba – just three weeks remain before the final squads of 15 are selected on 9 August.

A number of players have been named by more than one team, making each of the final selections an important strategic and financial decision for the teams. As was the case in 2009, if a player is selected to play for an ‘away’ team rather than his ‘home’ team (the team from the country he is eligible to represent in international cricket), the ‘away’ team must pay US$200,000 compensation to the ‘home’ team.

Flintoff is among world cricket’s biggest names who have been named in the preliminary squads, including:

Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians - MI),

MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings - CSK),

Mahela Jayawardene (Wayamba Elevens),

Dale Steyn (Royal Challengers Bangalore - RCB),

Rahul Dravid (RCB), JP Duminy (MI),

Matthew Hayden (CSK),

Ross Taylor (Central Stags/Victorian Bushrangers/RCB),

Muttiah Muralidaran (CSK),

Kieron Pollard (South Australian Redbacks/MI),

Harbhajan Singh (MI) and Mike Hussey (CSK).

Endhiran coming on September 3?

Kollywood's master film-maker S. Shankar's forthcoming science fiction film Endhiran, starring superstar Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles, will grace theatres on September 3, 2010 (Ramzan-Vinayaka Chaturthi weekend). There are reports that the film will release in 2000 screens worldwide, the highest ever for a Tamil film. Reportedly the director is currently busy with the post production works.

With a budget of Rs. 200 crores, Endhiran is the costliest Tamil film ever made. The music launch of Endhiran will be held in a magnificent event organised by HBO (who has also brought the overseas rights of the film) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The film will be released in over 300 screens outside India, which makes Endhiran the largest worldwide release after Spiderman.

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Big B’s Voice for Endhiran Robot

Amitabh Bachchan, widely called as the Big B in the industry, is voicing the robot in “Endhiran”. Sankar, director, sensed his voice absolutely apt for his robot in the movie. Amitabh's to dub in Endhiran Shankar paid visit at Mr. Bachchan’s abode and has been constantly in contact with him since then. Shankar aspires to fill every nook of the movie with perfection that is why he is seeking Big B’s acceptance.
“Endhiran” is a science fiction that has robot as pivot around which the whole plot is woven. The robot, played by Rajnikanth, gets transformed into human being and fused in the society. He becomes humane and falls in love with Aishwarya and here comes the twist. The invented story of the movie is set up in the backdrop of 23rd century.

Mr. Bachchan has taken Shanker’s proposal into consideration. If the robot gets the voice of Big B, it will intensify the feelings of robot. It is mega project of Rs.190 crores that was accomplished recently with the shoot of the song on Rajnikanth and Aishwarya.

The whole cast and crew painted the town red in the party thrown by producer of the movie, Kalanithi Maran. Shanker was too in high spirits and performed conventional pumpkin-breaking pooja for the first time.

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Rajini’s emotional gift to Kamal

Admiration is something that ‘Superstar’ Rajinikanth receives naturally because of his deeds and actions. In one such action, he has proved yet again that he’s not only a superstar but also a true friend.

The friendship about Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan is incredible and all of us know it. They have acted in many movies together and both consider director K. Balachandar as their mentor. During a function to facilitate Kamal’s fifty years in the film industry, Rajini had reportedly said that all the actors were ‘children of the Goddess of Art’, but ‘Kamal was so special that the Goddess had carried him in her own arms and let the other actors follow her’. This speech of Rajini had indeed received a lot of applause from the audience and the guests and especially Kamal who turned emotional by saying Rajini is his closest friend in the Tamil industry.

While that speech of Rajini would have been forgotten by many, sources say the ‘superstar’ apparently had called a reputed artist to his house to paint what he felt about the description of Kamal with the Goddess of Art. He had expressed his feelings and told his idea of how the painting can be portrayed. Rajini wanted the painting to include superstars from other industries as well and wanted them to be depicted as children. After a few days, the artist had come up with his version and Rajini was awestruck seeing it. He was so grateful to the artist and he immediately packed the painting and sent it to Kamal’s office. Sources say that after Kamal opened the package he was so happy to see the painting which made him feel so special. Apparently there was a telephonic conversation between the two, where Kamal was reported to have told Rajini, he was moved by this gesture.

The painting has Goddess of Art carrying Kamal in her arms, and superstars Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal, Kannada superstar Vishnuvaradhan and Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi as kids who are playing and following them. Only photos of two stalwarts of Tamil Cinema hang on Kamal’s walls and they are Sivaji Ganesan and Nagesh. Now he has another painting and that too from a special friend. A tale of friendship that all Tamil fans would love to see it blossom.