Films of Mani Ratnam

[Roshan]

We stumbled a lot while making this film. But Mani just got up and dusted himself off and went on to the next thing. He kept his cool. He was tethered throughout the shoot. He withstood storms. And he was not afraid to surround himself with strong contributors like the writer Balakumaran, whose ease with the local syntax and dialect helped to compensate for Mani’s urbanity. There were no egos on the set. Mani would shoot down ideas. He would also accept ideas. When Velu is taken to a brothel in a song sequence, I expressed my exasperation by rolling my eyes. Mani told me that this was a very Western thing, and asked if I could give a more Indian expression. That was a very happy day for me. Suddenly I had someone who noticed these small things that make up a performance. - Kamal

I wanted to quote this para.. Thanks Prabhu evvaLavu azhagaa solli irukkaar.

[Cinefan]

Kamal

Goosebump inducing article,this man likes Mani too much I guess.

Made me want to watch the movie NOW

[Anban]

liking Mani too much ellaam illai.. rejected .. look at how he has given a lot of inputs.. he like Mani's desire to do a honest movie.. avvalavu thaan ..

[P_R]

[MADDY]

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/...cle4008896.ece

The way Kelkar’s death was filmed (and later, the death of Velu Nayakan’s son), I knew Mani was making a really good movie. And also the kind of movie that we all dreamt of making. During the Holi sequence, I told Mani that Velu Nayakan should not dance. And Mani agreed. No director at that time would have agreed to this. Earlier in my career, I told Bharathiraja that the psychopathic killer in Sigappu Rojakkal should not be singing and dancing. But he deflected my objections saying that the song (Ninaivo oru paravai) was a dream song, shot from the heroine’s point of view. At least that made sense. But other times, people simply wouldn’t listen to me, and here Mani simply said, “Of course Velu Nayakan doesn’t dance.”

When we were in Bombay, we spoke to Varada Bhai (Varadaraja Mudaliar on whose life the film is based), and Mani had the audacity to ask him, “How do you foresee your death?” He said he would either die peacefully in a hospital (which is what happened) but left to the police, who couldn’t prove anything against him, they would bring him out of court and someone would slap him. This would cause a riot and they would then shoot him. This sparked the climax in Mani’s head.

goosebumps stuff......esp the second para, so much like the amarkant varma of Dil se, asking a Don daring questions ......a good insight into Mani's thinking process, which is pretty much linear, clear on what he is doing and how he manages to make movies that are less banal......and great writing by kamal in this article

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

Ithaiyum post panni veppom, since he is wishing for Kadal

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...6178053&type=1

[raghavendran]

brilliant article ...kind of lived the journey...

just now realised the people who have worked in this film after reading this...Kamal Haasan,Maniratnam,Ilaiyaraaja,P.C.Sreeram,Thotta Tharani,Balakumaran etc....once in a life time combination...

[A.ANAND]

thalaivar maniratnam vaalga...vaalga...vaalga...[theeyira smel innum sila vinadigalil ungga mukkuku]

[Anban]

Nayagan is Mani's peak in his career.

Kamal went on to reach greater heights

but.. Maniratnam deserves credit for this movie.. its not completely his movie though.. it is the least "maniratnam-movie" of all his movies..

[hattori_hanzo]

Super! MeySilirppu, Pullarippu, Goosebumps ellaam. Velu Nayakkare