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Director Shakti Soundar Rajan has clarified that actress Lakshmi Menon won't be essaying the role of a ghost in his upcoming yet-untitled Tamil directorial, which also stars Jayam Ravi. "Ours is not a horror film. Lakshmi is not playing a ghost. All I can say right now is that she'll be seen in a very different avatar. I can't divulge more information," Rajan told. The team has already completed shooting the first schedule in Ooty. "The rest of the shooting will take place in Hyderabad and Chennai," he said. The film has music by D.Imman.
Vishakha Singh plays ghost in 'Bayam Oru Payanam'
Actress Vishakha Singh has essayed the role of a ghost in upcoming Tamil horror film "Bayam Oru Payanam", which was recently wrapped up in the city. "Our search for a heroine who plays the ghost was very long until we decided upon Vishakha Singh. Her transformation into the given role in no time speaks volume about her professionalism," the film's director Manisharma told. The film also features Bharath, Meenakshi Dixit, Urvashi and Singam Puli in important roles. Talking about her dedication, he said: "While we were shooting in Munnar for a lengthy schedule of 20 days and long nights, she braved the leaches and snakes. Her tireless effort amidst the tough, unfriendly conditions proves the fact that she is hungry for performance-oriented roles." He added that Vishakha cared the least for looks. According to the director, the film is a true-blue horror outing. "We were aware of the fact that too many horror movies were already released while some are on floors. In 'Bayam Oru Payanam', we have no combination of humour or sentiment. When we call it a horror film, it stays as a horror film," he added. Emphasising on Y.R. Prasad's music, which will play a crucial role in the story, Manisharma said that the film will haunt audiences.
Regina plays a ghost in ‘Nenjam Marappathillai’
Actress Regina Cassandra plays a ghost in filmmaker Selvaraghavan’s highly anticipated Tamil romantic horror film “Nenjam Marappathillai”, which also stars actor-filmmaker S.J Suryah in the lead. “Regina’s role will shock audiences to the core. It’s a physically exhausting role and Selva has written it in such a way that people will empathise with the character but at the same fear it too. Her look, which is being heavily guarded, will be one of the highlights of the film,” a source from the film’s unit said. The source also added that Suryah’s role will amaze audiences. “Suryah’s performance in recent release ‘Iraivi’ has been the talk of the town for the last few weeks. Wait till audiences see his work in this film,” he said. The film marks the reunion of Selvaraghavan with composer Yuvan Shankar Raja after eight years.
Nag To Don The Role Of A Ghost In His Next
For last Sankranthi, Nagarjuna has delivered a blockbuster movie Soggade Chinni Nayana. He entertained the audience with his dual role in the flick. He then donned the role of a spirit who comes to help his cowardly son. Now he is all set to don the role of a ghost in his next says the sources. If the news is to be believed, Nag will be seen as a Ghost in the sequel of Raju Gari Gadi. Raja Gari Gadi is the second movie from Omkar, which received good response from the audience. He is now planning to make the sequel of the flick and it seems like he approached Nag to do the role of the ghost. Nag in Raju Gari Gadi 2? It is said that Nag has given green signal to the role. If at all this project gets onto the sets for real, it will be the first time that the audience will get to see the handsome hunk in his 50’s as a ghost. The ghost character is said to be a mix of horror and comedy. So we can expect quite a lot of laughs. Nag in his long career has done many roles. He tried almost all the genres and it is the first ever a time that he is trying a horror genre. It is said that Nag was very excited about his role in Raju Gari Gadi sequel. The movie is said to be produced by PVP Cinema banner, which delivered a wonderful movie like Oopiri last year. The official announcement about the Nag being in the project is yet to be made by the makers. We guess it will be a cameo role that Nag will be playing in the flick. At present Nagarjuna was busy shooting for Namo Venakatesaya.
Iraqi government combats 'ghost soldier' corruption in effort to rebuild embattled military
The Iraqi government has identified and stopped payment of tens of millions of dollars in salaries previously disbursed to nonexistent troops, known here as "ghost soldiers," as part of the prime minister's vow to tackle corruption in the military and regain a foothold in the battle against the Islamic State group, two senior government officials said. The initiative is part of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's plan to rebuild the U.S.-trained military which crumbled in the face of last summer's onslaught by Islamic State militants. Al-Abadi recently purged the military and interior ministry from a number of senior officials who were appointees of his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki. While it is unclear whether any of the sacked officials are among those accused of collecting misappropriated funds, al-Abadi vowed to pursue the sensitive matter "even if it costs me my life." According to the two senior officials, authorities prevented the loss of over $47 million of improper military spending in November, mostly from salaries that were previously paid to soldiers who are dead, missing or did not exist and which were pocketed by senior commanders. The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to media, said the money was the first of several tranches of funding to be regained by Iraq's Defense Ministry. Al-Abadi announced last month that at least 50,000 ghost soldiers existed in four different divisions of the military and would be cut from its payroll. "We were paying salaries while we lack the money," he said in a televised address. "We have started blowing some big fish out of the water and we'll go after them until the end," he added. The Iraqi military has struggled to recover from its collapse in June when the Islamic State group captured the country's second largest city, Mosul, and swept over much of northern Iraq. In the face of the blitz, commanders disappeared. Pleas for more ammunition went unanswered. In some cases, soldiers stripped off their uniforms and ran. The Iraqi army has since been reduced to 10 of the 14 divisions it had before the Islamic State offensive in June. The government officially says the country's total military and police forces stand at 1 million men. However, a senior Iraqi military official told The Associated Press that the military consisted of 238,000 fighters as of early December. That figure is overstated, according to a senior U.S. military official, who said Iraqi military strength stands, generously, at 125,000 — down from 205,000 in January 2014. He believes the number of ghost soldiers is far greater than the 50,000 cited by the prime minister, but did not give his own estimate. Both military officials also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. If all 50,000 soldiers cited by the prime minister received an entry-level salary (about $750 per month), it would add up to at least $450 million in bogus salaries per year. "The numbers will be much higher if the investigation includes ghost policemen in the Interior Ministry," Iraqi lawmaker Liqaa Wardi told the AP. "I think that the efforts exerted by the current government will face resistance by some corrupt army and security officers who have made gains and fortunes due to the corruption system and the ghost soldiers." Many have blamed the army's poor performance on al-Maliki, saying he replaced top officers with inexperienced or incompetent political allies in order to monopolize power. From 2010 until his resignation in August, al-Maliki had also held both the interior and defense portfolios, in part because lawmakers could not agree on nominees for them. In the case of the fall of Mosul, poor training and a lack of loyalty to the central government have been widely cited as a principle cause for the military's collapse there. Once al-Abadi was sworn in and his government approved, it took six weeks to fill the critical posts of interior and defense ministers following a deadlock among rival parliamentary blocs. The U.S., which began airstrikes on Aug. 8 to reinforce Iraqi and Kurdish forces, is now looking to boost its efforts with additional weapons supplies to the embattled Iraqi military. The Pentagon has made a spending request to Congress of $1.6 billion, focusing on training and arming Iraqi and Kurdish forces. According to a Pentagon document prepared last month, the U.S. is looking to provide an estimated $89.3 million worth of weapons and other equipment to each of the nine Iraqi army brigades. Part of the drive to target the ghost soldier corruption is also financial necessity. Plunging oil prices and soaring costs from Iraq's war against the Islamic State group have taken a significant toll on Iraq's economy, prompting government spending cuts, including in defense, which so far constitutes 22 percent of next year's proposed budget, according to Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari. "Any senior military official involved in such obvious corrosive corruption should be court martialed and tossed in jail — especially in a perilous environment such as that which Iraq is facing," said Paul Sullivan, an expert on Middle East affairs at National Defense University in Washington. "The regular people and the lower ranks are hurt the most by the corruption of the leaders."
Ajay Ghosh to play a dacoit in 'Baahubali 2'
Actor Ajay Ghosh, who impressed audiences and critics alike with his menacing performance in Tamil thriller "Visaaranai", is essaying the role of a dreaded dacoit in "Baahubali: The Conclusion". "I play a character called bandipotu (dacoit) Veeraya, who is part of Anushka's kingdom in the film. I have already completed shooting for five days in the Kerala schedule last month. I will join the sets again in March to shoot rest of my portion," Ajay told. Excited about being part of India's biggest motion picture, he says he can't wait to watch himself on the screen. "It's a very interesting role. I am very excited and eager to know how audiences will receive it," he said. In Vetrimaaran-directed "Visaaranai", which released in theatres last week, Ajay played a conniving and sadistic police officer. Since the film's release, he has been getting extremely positive feedback for his role. "Although it is a negative character, people have accepted it wholeheartedly. When I watched the first show with my director and walked out, I feared I would be hated by all, but the exact opposite happened. I'm glad they all liked it," he said. The film, which is partly based on Tamil novel "Lock Up", deals with police brutality. It stars Dinesh, Murugadoss, Samuthirakani and Kishore in important roles. Ajay admits he was teary-eyed in the interrogation scenes. "I was in tears when I had to beat up Dinesh black and blue. Although we used dummy batons, the force with which it was used made me so uncomfortable. But we had to continue shooting, because these were crucial scenes of the film," he said.