Malayalam actor Murali, who is best known for his powerful roles in both Malayalam and Tamil movies passed away today at a private hospital in Trivandrum, Kerala. Murali was admitted to the hospital a few days ago following health issues. He breathed his last around 8.00 p.m. at the hospital. The 55 year old actor is survived by his wife and a daughter.

During his career, Murali received numerous awards, significant of them being the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for the movie Amaram and the National award for Best Actor for Neythukaran in 2002.

The Chennai Rotary Sangam will conduct a show in memory of the late pop star Michael Jackson on August 29th. The venue for this event will be the Wesley Grounds in Royapettah, Chennai.

Noted musicians Shankar Mahdevan, Ehsaan, Loy and singers Karthik and Suchithra among others will participate in the show. Talks are on with AR Rahman to spare his date to make it to the event. The amount derived from this event will be utilized to raise the awareness on Autism, the show organizers say. The show will mainly comprise of the late pop icon’s songs.

The king of controversies, director Ram Gopal Varma, stunned everyone recently by announcing that he is all set to direct a comedy flick. Known for directing horror films, this disclosure has raised many a eyebrows in the film industry. RGV reportedly told the PTI that, “Yes I will be directing a comedy. I have been thinking about it for a while and basically I just want to have a laugh, have some fun after all the horror films.”

RGV is currently bust promoting his film Agyaat and was the centre of controversy when he hung dummy corpses on the hoardings advertising the film.

A community registered under the name “Dilip Kumar for Bharat Ratna” in Facebook is lobbying to garner support for the 86-year-old actor to be awarded the highest civilian award of the nation – The Bharat Ratna. Popular director Mahesh Bhatt started this initiative and over 850 people have already registered in favor of Dilip Kumar.

Bhatt told the IANS that, “It is the entire industry’s effort. From every region, stalwarts have come out to appeal for him. I was just a foot soldier. It is the Indian film industry’s effort, not an individual’s effort.”

The members of the group are encouraged to leave a comment in favor of the star or reply “I endorse that Dilip Kumar is the most deserving person to be honored with the Bharat Ratna.”

Bollywood star and daughter of the popular Tamil film star late Gemini Ganesan has been penning her life history that covers a span of 50 years. The book is touted to reveal all and will comprise the most important moments of her life. Known to be a reclusive star who never participates in many of the functions organized by the film personalities, this move to write a reveal-all book has raised the expectation level among her fans.

Rekha also has plans to make a film out of the story she had penned. The book is expected to be published after the lady finalizes on the filming aspect.