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Mani Ratnam - A Man in full. Mani Ratnam - A Man in full - a profile by Anita Nair.

I don't know Mani Ratnam - I wonder if anyone really knows. I admire him. I admire the way his screenplays probe deep. Tamilian roots and bring out into the surface a colourful. Tamil. I admire how his male characters swagger through life. I admire how he delves into Hindu mythology and creates.

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Roja is actually the story of Savitri. Satyavan retold and that the relationship of the brothers in Dhalapathi. Karna and Arjuna. And I admire how. But mostly I admire Mani Ratnam because for more than a. Tamil cinema. - soap operas extended into feature film lengths with asinine jokes, garish. And yet, in Theodore Bhaskaran's 'Eye of the Serpent.

An introduction to Tamil cinema' [1. East. West Books], a book that. Swarna Kamal award, Mani Ratnam receives no more. I don't just admire Mani Rathnam. I am angry for him. It is a Monday morning in mid- June when I fly into Chennai.

The heat hits and swaddles me like a wet blanket. The flight is dreadfully. I do not dare ask my cab driver to hurry. I hate car rides and.

I can put a lid on my fear is by talking. The cabbie [whom I discover to be a Malayalee and hence. Malayalam] wants to know what I'm doing for just. Sans luggage. Sans a laptop. Sans even a presentation. I tell him I'm here to meet Mani Ratnam.

I see him give me an once- over through the rear view mirror. Are you in the film industry?" he asks in a strange voice. I wonder if a dead uncle and a living aunt who each own. Kerala would qualify me as someone having something. I wonder if he will believe me if I say I'm going to be.

Mani Ratnam's new film. I settle for the truth. I'm here to interview him,". I explain. "In that case, would you please tell him that I have. I liked Dhalapathi the best.

Would. you also ask him why is it that all his heroines shriek and the heroes. Mani Ratnam is forty- five years old.

A post graduate from. Jamnalal Bajaj of Business Management, his education has prepared. If there is a connection with. His father was a distributor; a man who lived.

Like almost every person of his generation, Mani Ratnam. In his mid- teens, Mani Ratnam had a moment of. For the first time, he discovered that films were conceived. And that was all. No internship as assistant director. No searching for that elusive director who would transform his screenplay.

One day, many years later from that first. Mani Ratnam stopped and stared… and changed. From management consultant to moviemaker.

For almost a year, Mani Ratnam and a few friends dreamed. The film never got made. But Mani Ratnam had served his term as apprentice. Mani Ratnam's first film was a Kannada one.

Pallavi Anu. Pallavi`. A film that explored a relationship between an older woman and.

But it was with 'Mouna Raagam` a love story that managed. Mani. Ratnam made the cash registers ring. Then came 'Pagal Nilavu`, a film.

But it was with 'Nayakan` that. Mani Ratnam found his voice. Until then, it seemed that Mani Ratnam was fumbling for. At times, he was lucky to get away with his unformed style and. Nayakan , when it happened was a film so. Tamilnadu. but in the rest of the country as well were used to, that it was a huge. It established his reputation as a box office miracle.

It won a spate of awards. And it was India`s official entry for. Oscar Awards. Mani Ratnam had become a brand.

In real life, Mani Ratnam has none of that gloss that is. There is none of that glitz.

A silver dust that separates us from them. Mani Ratnam could be one of.

In a bottle green shirt, beige trousers and gold rimmed spectacles. I take heart from that. Watch The Asian Connection Online The Asian Connection Full Movie Online on this page. And the fact that despite keeping him waiting for almost.

We climb the stairs to where his. The building is large; pillars and a courtyard, corridors. Light and darkness. Mani Ratnam, I remind myself, has a penchant for chiaroscuro. The room is cool and only just adequately lit. The furniture. is quiet and as unassuming as the man. Wood and subdued pastels.

An office- boy comes into Mani Ratnam's study and begins. Mani Ratnam shoos. I'm used to clients who in. More and more, it is difficult to come upon a person who respects. Here is one such man, I think. As preparation for this meeting, I have watched as many. Mani Ratnam films as I could lay my hands upon and surfed the Net to discover.

I chance upon a discussion room topic. Does Mani Ratnam deserve to be called a good director' that is debated. His admirers are loyal and vociferous, but there are. Their. criticism ranges from: All his movies have been hyped excessively That his movies lack originality or a strong theme That he tries to impress with his controversial themes.

His story lines are predictable, the dialogue irritating. Surely, different characters. Only the technical aspects of his films stand out (no help. Mani Ratnam is simply an above average commercial film. That everyone doesn't love him is loud and clear.

If he. were, that would make him banal and his movies commonplace, I offer apologetically. But Mani Ratnam takes no umbrage when I finish reading out excerpts from. He merely smiles. Mani Ratnam dons several caps. He conceives the story.

He writes his scripts. He directs his films. What do you see yourself. I ask? He leans back in his swivel chair and says thoughtfully. There are no such clear cut lines.

The film starts with an idea. And then the lines merge." But I am unwilling to let go. This is after all why I am. To find out which part of him reigns. The writer? The filmmaker?

Or the director? I am curious how he manages to strike an equilibrium and. For instance. in the film Roja, the terrorist played by Pankaj Kapoor, from a writer's.

A man who is willing to admit. Instead in the film, the focus shifts and Roja, the naïve. Tamilian girl fighting to get her husband released is glorified.

There is nothing heroic about her except for the fact that she is persistent. Mani Ratnam smiles again. I disagree," he says. Roja is the hero of the film. Here is a girl who has never travelled. Tamilnadu, is stuck in a strange. In the process she also understands what terrorism.

As for the other aspect of compromise, there is no cinema. Except that I would prefer to call it as striking. I'm trying to tell a story to an audience. And I do that as. I can. There is no conflict of interest." In his most recent film Alai Payuthe.

The hero is rich. The heroine is from a middle class family and. Housing Board flat. The hero's father in an effort to break.

We weren't sure if we had to come to the right house. Each house looks just like the other." The heroine's father feels a slight where there is none. He is rude, "We are all middle class people here. We can. afford only this." It is insights such as these rather than Mani Ratnam's.

Like most. of his audience, I have adored and despised his scenes, maybe in equal. Delighting in the subtleties, puffing with disappointment when.

But a filmmaker does not survive to posterity by the strength of. My own reading is that Mani Ratnam's body of work, save. Iruvar will not survive the winnowing of time. That. what has made him will also unmake him. Mani Ratnam's films have a force.

When you are in it, you feel one way. When you leave. nothing lingers. For what Mani Ratnam, a creature of the shining moment.

I have nothing against conventional cinema,"Mani. Ratnam says. "What is it you want to do? And I know that I want to make something that matters. Something. that intrigues me, fascinates me and something I'm convinced about.". Unlike their neighbours the Keralites, politics is not.

Tamilians. Few things prove it as well as Tamil. There has been an occasional film that has dealt with an issue. A contemporary issue. But Tamil cinema seldom rises above the threshold. Mani Ratnam scores here again and again. Whether it is. about life with a spastic child or terrorism or communal riots, Mani Ratnam.

But at some point. As in Roja. As in Bombay. As. in Iruvar. But that is a decision Mani Ratnam has chosen to live with.

As much as critical acclaim is important, commercial success is necessary.