7am Arivu looks better than Ghajini: A. R. Murgadoss

The first look of Suriya's 7am Arivu is out and features the actor as a Buddhist monk, which is one of the roles he plays in the film.

Though the shooting has been on for more than a year now, the movie - which is directed by A R Murugadoss and produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin - has been kept under tight wraps, with not even a single still released to the media.

"It was a strategy by the makers to keep all visual material away from the media as they did not want anything revealed about the subject," said a source, adding, "And now, gauging by the response the poster has got, it seems to have paid off."

The source added, "This look as a Buddhist monk is sported by Suriya only in the first 20 minutes of the film. He looks completely different after that. The material, in which he will be seen with the leading lady of the film Shruti Haasan, will be released later, perhaps sometime close to the audio launch of the film."

When director A R Murugadoss was contacted, he said, "We wanted to ensure that 7am Arivu looked much better than Ghajini, our previous film together, and so we worked hard on the look for the film."

Next up for the director is a film with Vijay, which he says will commence in October once 7am Arivu hits screens.

Maatran goes on floors

Friday (July 22) morning saw the puja launch of K V Anand's upcoming flick Maatran.

The film features Suriya and Kajal Aggarwal in lead roles and has music by Harris Jayaraj. It marks the return of the Ayan superhit combination.

It will be my most exciting film; I can vouch for that, said the actor recently, whose 7am Arivu with director A R Murugadoss is yet to hit screens. Looks like Suriya, who celebrates his birthday today, is all set to rock!

Sonam foraying down south?

Double Cheers for Vijay fans, if what we heard from the closer sources is believed to be true. It is time for Vijay to rock as he’ll be joining hands with filmmaker A.R. Murugadoss.

The film that is likely to be produced by Aascar Ravichandran and Vijay’s father’s S.A. Chandrasekhar on first copy basis with to release the film worldwide.

Soon after Fox Star Studios signed up A.R. Murugadoss as the creative producer, Murugadoss mentioned that more movies would be made under this collaboration and if things work out well, he might wield the megaphone for a film.

Murgadoss, who has been keeping busy with the post production work of his Suriya starrer 7am Arivu has met Vijay recently and narrated a oneliner that floored Vijay to have given his nod to the director.

Hold your breath now, the director is in plans to cast Bollywood beauty Sonam Kapoor opposite Vijay in this film. However the official announcement on this is yet to be made.

It was recently learnt that Sonam already had plans to star in South Indian films as well ever since her arch nemesis Sonakshi signed up Kamal Hassan's Viswaroopam who would not just be romancing the actress but also be directing her for the film.

The official announcement on this vijay-Murgadoss project would be made once the duo finalizes the script and other crewmembers.

Salman's next with AR Murugadoss

Ghajini director A R Murugadoss has been missing-in-action from B-town since delivering one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema, there is now word that he is being roped in to make a film with Salman Khan.

As reported, a leading producer in Mumbai is working towards bringing Salman and Murugadoss together. This comes as a surprise as it was largely speculated that Murugadoss would be directing Shahrukh Khan next, and there were reports that the two had met to discuss a project.

Murugadoss is currently finishing up 7am Arivu, a Tamil film, and it will be some time before his next project gets underway. Besides, Salman’s schedule is packed with films and one cannot foresee how he could jam in another film.

There is no confirmation from either Salman Khan or A R Murugadoss and no news of the two meeting to discuss any project, so not much can be made of this report.

Whenever this pairing does happen, it will be a sight to see brawny Salman Khan -- the original muscleman of Bollywood -- directed by Murugadoss in an Action thriller!