Television star Mandira Bedi has spurned many offers from the film industry in Tamil Nadu, but it was young star Silambarasan who finally managed to get a "yes" from her.

It is well known to movie buffs in Tamil Nadu that Mandira turned down an offer from National Award-winning director Parthipan, who even flew her down to Chennai but she backed out of his project after a meeting.

Silambarasan, however, impressed Mandira with his knowledge of films and his energy.

His father T. Rajendran used to produce, direct, act, edit, write scripts and lyrics and even compose the music for films.

Like his father, Silambarasan has dabbled in many aspects of filmmaking other than acting in his new film "Manmadan".

Thus, Mandira agreed to act as a psychiatrist opposite Silambarasan, who is only in his early 20s. Jyothika is the leading lady in "Manmadan" being directed by A.J. Murugan.

To justify the film's title, "Manmadan" (God Of Love), Silambarasan has Yana Gupta and 12 "hot girls" from Mumbai doing an "item number" in it.

The film's music has been composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, who has had a good run in recent months. A few days ago, none other than Mandira released the film's music in Chennai.

Well-known directors Dharani, Cheran and Ramana spoke at the event. It was not Silambarsan but his father Rajendran who posed with Mandira for photographers.