Mani Ratnam should know that his movies, bordering on pseudo-intellectualism, are not watched by too many people. All his movies of late have fallen with a loud thud at the BO and there's a very simple reason for it: his movies suck and big time. "Nayakan" was just a flash in the pan. Eliminate AR Rahman from his movies and all you have is 2 hours of self-righteous drivel. Spare us the homilies Mani, you're a spent force.
RE:A sheer waste of time
by Bradley on May 01, 2008 08:54 PM
His movies being a thud at the BO is not b.c it sucks, nor its the directors or writers fault.
People don't choose to watch mani's movies, whn roja and bombay wer hits, it ws a typical love story w/good songs w/ a good theme as a background. But the themes of those two movies wer eclipsed by the love story and songs(common in indian movies).
Nayakan was an exception since it ws an action drama movie w.none other thn kamal hassan in it. Dhalapathi ws also similar w.none other thn rajinikanth and mammootty in it.
Whn it came to iruvar, people did not understand the mgr and current tamil cheif minister story. This movie ws eclipsed by the acting of mohanlal and prakashraj, and their stories of friendship between a star and politician in tamil politics. Ther ws the love story angle, but very little and it ws not a big slow down to the political drama.
Kannathil Muthamital lies in the same category of iruvar, as far the treatment of the story and its themes ar concrnd.
No wonder some exclent movies of mani fail at BO, since people ar just not intersted in movies as his. Audiencs always wnt to see movies their way, and not the directors way.
Audiences seeing movies their way is a waste of money, since you have much better things to do your way thn seeing a movie.
RE:A sheer waste of time
by Guru Prasath on May 02, 2008 12:18 PM
Don't think too much Mr.Dirtybutclean. If you eliminate ARR from Mani's movies then Maestro Ilayaraja will come into picture.
Mani is all brialliance...you have movies made by directors and then you have movies made by mani ratnam...he is in a class of his own...
Visuals - absolutely mind blowing...song picturisation.- out of this world...screenplay and story telling- to the minutest detail...he is perfection personified..
some of his brilliant scenes are... - in bombay - arjun meeting manisha in a burkha and then sitting and pondering his infactuation..(a lot of blue filter used is just visual treat to the eyes) in roja - flag burning scene in anjali - the time the family has dinner sitting down with lights suspended from the celing (ligthing is just out of this world) in dil se - the scene described below when manisha meets shahrukh in the studio and the door keeps open and close look at the light and sound effect. in yuva - ajay devgan first fight scene in the mall and vivek and kareena in the tram and in the disco in guru - the last scene of abhishek in the court. in thiruda thiruda - the entire film the songs chandralekha, ten ten thikitukkam ten...
i can go on and on this man is a genius and just one of his kind...
RE:Mani - is all brilliance
by on May 03, 2008 01:38 PM
Yes. You are right...i totally agree with you. His films are visual treats. No doubt that he is a brilliant director who has taken Indian Cinema to the next phase
I have read a lot of interviews, but this was one probably has to be the best done...I really like the way questions have been put forth. A great job done indeed. Congratulations Maria...great observations and questions put forth. Hopefully more such interviews are on its way.
I see Tamilians praise Mani Rathnam and also trash North Indians, I dont know why they have this kind of superiority complex. It is just like Indians feeling good that it is better than in Pakistan. But reality India is only slightly better than Pakistan and diffrence is not much really in terms per-capita, mortality, HDI etc. Tamilians should work hard to improve and compare themselves with western european standards of living rather than feeling happy with respect to North Indians
RE:Once again
by deepak on May 02, 2008 09:11 PM
dont bring in Pakistan a terror sponsoring nation termed as the Most Dangerous Country on earth...Pakistan is horrible, it is the only country where people are slaughtered when they say namaz on fridays...Pakistan is horrible !
RE:Once again
by Samosachat on May 01, 2008 04:58 PM
This is just an interview of Mani Rathnam. How did you come to the conclusion that Tamilians feel superior to North Indians?With regard to India and Pakistan Inidia is a huge country and diverse population unlike Pakistan which has only one religion( They made sure of that). Every little improvement in India is a leap considering the huge population. Pakitan is such a nuisance country because of which both India and Pakistan's development is curbed.
RE:Once again
by arjun on May 02, 2008 09:58 AM
Yes samosa chat i agree with you.Pakistan is a joke at any level!India is just too diverse and there is no resemblance in culture between a north indian and south indian-its just total crap to say we have one culture or one language or one bollywood.Just like europe-India is more like a union rather than a country.Yes pakistan is way behind compared to India.Per capita income does not make one better be it india or pakistan!
Manirathnam is Diamond among glitters/stones. We can not match any other film maker of his time. Mani ...I wish to see many more films from him. Wish him a good health.
I have always been fan of Mani Ratnam. One person who thinks from heart and brain. One person whose quest for doing different and winning with it most of the time is great. He stands apart from the crowd. He has great sense of story telling, music and breathtaking visuals. No word other than - Genius - can define him.
I want to type this message with an unbiased opinion on indian cinema. Indian movies produced some fine film makers in all the languages. Some good film makers were branded as art directors or award directors and others as commercial film makers. Mani Ratnam was a daring film maker whose work was very different from both. He made art movies which were commercially viable and enjoyable. I wouldnt say all his movies were hits, some were average and some were even utter flops. Most of his movies were big hits winning critical acclaim. Stars like Kamal haasan, Nagarjuna, Raghuvaran, Revathy, Rajinikanth, Abhishek Bachan, Manisha Koirala, Simran, Shalini and Aishwarya Rai gave their best performances in Mani Ratnam's movies. The biggest asset of Mani is his screen play and different script. He blends cinematography, music to bring soul to his movies. I have watched almost all of his movies in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. I would rate Nayagan as his best and Kannathil Muthamitaal as second. Anjali takes the third spot, Roja 4th, Bombay 5th, Guru 6th, Geethanjali 7th, Mouna Ragam 8th, Agni Nachathiram 9th, Alaipayuthey 10th, Iruvar 11th, Thalapathy 12th, Yuva - Dil se 13th, Idhaya kovil 14th, I didnt watch Pagal Nilavu & PallaviAnupallavi
RE:Mani one of the finest film makers of my time
by gocool navaluchi on May 01, 2008 08:22 PM
Good review. I would have Kannathil..and Nayagan as uno. Geetanjali as 5th. This one movie has resurrected Nagarjuna's film career (along with Shiva by RGV).
RE:Mani one of the finest film makers of my time
by Bradley on May 01, 2008 09:04 PM
Sorry natesh, manisha koirala is not tht good as compared to revathy(mani's favorite), nor is aishwarya rai.
But mani did give manisha good charactrs more thn aishwarya rai. Aishwaya rai in guru is the same as aishwarya rai in iruvar(mohanlal's wife in beginning of movie).
Abhishek bachan has still long way to go, and did you forget madhavan.
Kamal hassan has gotten better performances thn mani ratnam in other directors. Nayakan ws not difficult for kamal. Kamal hassan, mohanlal, and prakashraj gave excellent performances thn all other actors. Because, thy have been directed by better directors thn mani in their previous films. No wonder, mani ratnam only workd w.them for once.
According to rating, you can't rate mani's movies since each of them ar diffrent and unique in their own way. You ratings seem wierd, since none of them ar similar and all of them ar poles apart.
You can rate the actors by the intensity of characters drawn out for each actor. But movies, its a whole diff. thing.
Maniratnam have shown the Indian cinema a new meaning and trend.North Indians have realised the same when ROJA relased.Geethanjali a Love Story,Nayakan story of Leader,Anjali story of Despair chlid,Guru story of Industralist,handles very rare topics and meaningful movies. The Music touches to the hearts.He concentrates on minor things.Nayakan is the best comination of all elements. The day he has cast SHAHRUK KHAN in DILSE the talent of Mani was questioned.He was tiliting to commercial movies. Mani should be back to late eighties.
I won't say its a bad interview because missing out afew films doesn't mean the interview is bad...But for Mani Rathnam..His best work till date is IRUVAR...his biggest commercial venture DHLAPATHI......U guys forgot to ask about these two films..and went of bragging about Abhishek Bachchan for what?? Yuva & Guru??
