I actually didnt like the expression of AB at the end but who cares. Usually the first look of any Mani Ratnam movie has no resemblence to any other movies, other than his own. But this teaser reminds me of Omkara, don’t know why. Nevertheless, good hype so far.

I like some parts of Cheran’s work but I never thought I would look forward to a film in which he stars. If not for Myshkin, this still photograph from Yudham Sei wouldn’t have landed here. Its only films like these that I look forward these days and not the Yendhiran types. Maybe I’ve grown old but hype works only in your twenties.

I hope Myshkin’s previous unreleased film, Nandalala hits the screen very soon. If not, the producers should release it direct-to-DVD.

Myshkin is by far my biggest hope of tamil cinema followed by or preceded by, in some cases, Selvaraghavan. Oh yeah, there is Mani Ratnam, as always.

Its probaby the 4th time in the last 4-5 years. Dude, Take it easy!

From Times of India article, Mani braves a heart attack.

However, it seems the news from Chennai is heartening and very encouraging, according to Gulzar . He was in Chennai working on a song for Raavana with Mani and A R Rahman when Mani’s health scare occurred. Mani was revved up and energetic as Gulzar and Rahman argued and collaborated over the perfect words for the tune.

Gulzar said, “Mani complained of uneasiness. We presumed it to be nothing more than creative anxiety. We all get restless and nervous when we are working intensely on a project. We had no clue it was a health issue.”

After a while, fidgety and restless, Mani left the recording studio alone and checked himself quietly into the Apollo hospital. That, according to Mani’s close friends, is the filmmaker’s style. He never draws attention to himself. Normally no matter how private a person, he would immediately ask someone to accompany him to a doctor if there was a health alarm. The super-reclusive Mani actually went all alone to Appolo.

Man, that guy was a kiddo then. Neat interview. Cheers to the yesteryear Surabi Team and ofcourse Abdul Rahman aka ARR.

click to play

2007 was a good year for Kollywood. Ram’s Katrathu Thamizh, Ameer’s Paruthi Veeran and Vetrimaran’s Polladhavan were all released during this year. It was the year of directors and new comers. And so Vijay Awards 2008 was also just so neat. It had the perfect host, Yuhi Sethu. Vetrimaran was the director of the year. Paruthiveeran was the movie of the year and Sreekar Prasad got the best editor award for Katrathu Thamizh. Except for mishaps like Sivaji and Pokiri, it was a fabulous year for good Tamil cinema.

And what a night it turned out to be when the final award, Lifetime Award for contribution to Indian Cinema was given away to Mani Ratnam. As usual, the man of few words, spoke less than few words.

Vijay TV probably makes the best montage among Tamil cable channels. This montage on Mani’s films was short but well edited. I only wish, they made a full length candid interview with Mani Ratnam just like the one with Writer Sujatha. This video will be a treasure until such interview is made in future.

I rejoiced when mr.nayakan walked away with that prestigious award. It made my day !!

Looking at Mani Ratnam’s profile on IMDB, I see a movie named Kelviyin Nayagan listed as one of his directorial ventures.

And searching the web, surprisingly, I see a bunch of sites also listing the same. Am I missing something ?

On Mani Ratnam’s Guru -

I have scripted the first 20 scenes of Guru. Mani bought me a ticket and asked me to go to England, where my sister lives. He sent me blank paper and some ideas, so it was a paid holiday. Mani grew up in the city, whereas I am from a small village even though my family was full of lawyers. I went to a government school and know the nuances of village life better. Guru is a village film in the beginning, before it shifts to the city.

On working with Mani Ratnam -

Mani wanted me to work in Anjali, but he thought even that wasn’t good enough for me. He wanted to have something substantial to cast me. I would like to be directed by Mani Ratnam but, of course, it is not a big deal. I know the man. I think Balachander will make me act better. Mani’s characters will be good but, when it comes to performance, I think Balachander is even better; or, for that matter, Bharati Raja, Mahendran or Kranti Kumar. Mani has considered me for many of his films — Mouna Ragam, Nayagan (for the daughter’s role). He is a good director — he does not need a co-director. He just needs help with writing so he can concentrate on the making. I wrote the dialogues for Iruvar.

Read more from the Rediff’s interview with Suhasini Maniratnam.

Bappi Lahiri renders the title number of Mani Ratnam’s Guru. That’s what you call, comedy.

I might take back my words listening to the number.

Rajeev Menon is currently shooting Mani Ratnam’s Guru. We all know that. Seems to be too spirited these days. Working again with Mani Ratnam may be one of the reason. But he goes to the extent of even talking in a little detail about Guru’s premise. I’m surprised. This morning when Mani Ratnam sips his coffee and reads this Vikatan interview, he will be surprised too.

BTW, what’s with this Ambaani story and all. Starting from the day when the story started to sneak out, I was hanging out silently to get this confirmed. With this answer of Rajeev Menon it’s nearly confirmed. Nearly. Usually, when the screens light-up for a Mani Ratnam movie, I anxiously await to be over-powered by the images on the screen. This Ambaani matter is somehow hindering the expectations.

Who is GURU ?

Mumbai Mirror has some news on Mani Ratnam’s next flick, Guru.

This is the first time that Mani Ratnam is finding it difficult to get a star for his next, Guru. He can’t find a hero opposite Vidya Balan in his film. Ratnam has signed Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai as the lead pair of his film, while Vidya Balan has been finalised as the second lead. But it seems that most of the Bollywood actors are giving this ace filmmaker grief as none of them seem to be interested in playing second lead to AB Jr.

While we go to press, we have been informed by our source that Mani Ratnam is disappointed with the attitude of Bollywood actors, and he wants to cast a fresh face opposite Vidya Balan. Mani sir will come to Mumbai to conduct screen tests and in all probability he might sign on a new face for the film, he informs.

I would love if Ratnam drops the entire plan and returns Chennai to shoot the movie in Tamil.

Filled with tight close-ups and trolley shots, the 5 minute sequence where Deva – Surya meet Arvind Swamy, is probably one of the best edited scenes in kollywood. The broad view of Arvind Swamy’s office is never shown until the conflict happens. Until then the camera just captures the emotions on the faces. As the trolley moves and the camera comes behind someone it cuts surprisingly to another face. May seem to be an old technique now but then it was so new.

A true team effort from the cast, Mani Ratnam, Suresh Urs and Santhosh Sivan. Illayaraja seems to have provided ample support with a perfect silence during the close-ups. Classy.

[Source - Madras Talkies. Via - Brijesh]

There is this relatively old rumor[a month old] that Mani Ratnam‘s latest flick will be a Bollywood film with Aamir Khan.

Few days back, they let the cat more or less out of the bag that Mani is looking to direct another bollywood flick with Abhishek, Aish and ‘Parineeta’ Vidya Balan.

So what’s the movie name? GURU. Yeah, more or less[in Times of India tone], its Guru. Is that why my collar seems to be perpetually raised, since then ?

P.S – Its a surprise to see the image of Mani Ratnam on Madras Talkies site. Its probably the first time, I see Mani indulging in such a self-promotion. Either Yuva must be spotted in some recent film festival or, I’m guessing, some webmaster who is an ardent fan like Guru[yeah, this is me] put up Mani’s photo on the homepage.

Mr.Mani , If you are reading this, can you ask that webmaster to send me a bigger image with better resolution. I need an image like this to be hosted at maniratnamfilms.com.

I think we are on the threshold of development. Today, a lot more films are made for an international audience. Technology will play a big role with the growth of the digital medium. Filmmaking will become a lot more personal. It will become like writing. Anybody will be able to make a film.

Those are words of Mani Ratnam in a short interview to Deccan Herald. Interesting observtion. Rest of the interview, has already appeared on print before, in some form or other.

With the way things are exponentially progressing, what Mani says will happen sooner than expected. Like blogging, anyone will be able to make a film. By then, most of us would be already standing with a Sony movie handycam and loads of ideas. Ofcourse, rehearsing the script within ourselves. mylazymovie.com !!

Bollywood is shorthand for Bombay Hollywood, seat of the largest Indian film industry. But it manufactures only about 200 of the thousand or so Indian feature films; a half-dozen regions boast production sites larger than most of the world?s national cinemas. Madras, capital of the Tamil state, is one such place, and its leader – arguably India’s top pop-film auteur – is Mani Ratnam. His movies, often dramatizing social unrest and political terrorism, churn with narrative tension and camera energy that would be the envy of Hollywood directors, if they were ever to see them. Nayakan, an early, defining work in his career, tells the Godfatherish tale of Velu, a boy who embraces a life of crime after his father is killed by the police. Velu (Kamal Hasan) has trouble juggling his family life with his life-and-death mob “family”; Ratnam has no such difficulty blending melodrama and music, violence and comedy, realism and delirium, into a two-and-a-half-hour demonstration that, when a gangster’s miseries are mounting, the most natural solution is to go singin’ in the rain. – Excerpt from Time Magazine.

Again, just like the Oscars for a tamil movie, I don’t think something is achieved when you have a Tamil movie featuring in the list of global all-time favorites. But it’s a feel good factor. One reason why I am personally happy is for Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan[needs subscription] making it to the Time’s Alltime Top 100 movies, is that despite being based on Mario Puzo’s God Father script, Nayakan had its own share of Mani Ratnam’s brilliance at throughout the movie. If you ask me to stick out a single favorite shot from the film, I may be dazzled.

Nayakan had a team that was one of the best during that decade. It had geniuses like Illayaraja, PC Sriram and the Nayakan himself.

I haven’t subscribed to Time and hence couldn’t read the entire article. Thanks Vilvanboy and Srivats for passing on the link, It made my day.

[Click the image for a bigger version]

A friend of mine, Karthi, did forward the above pic with a subject – Mani Ratnam’s New Film, Aalayam.

I probably wanted to verify the source and then post this. Am not posting this to make a scoop out of it or to bring in a speculation. Infact, going by previous instances this isn’t the way Mani Ratnam unleashes his new movie. Because I believe the movie shooting hasn’t started yet and many a time such teaser posters get released only when post-production works are in progress.

This could be true on one reason. K Sera Sera production house’s name is there on the list. Maybe K Sera Sera is co-producing the film alongwith Madras Talkies. But be it a spoof or a scoop, am posting it just because I am happy for the way the poster is designed. He/She must have been a Mani Ratnam fan. The font and the collage of pics at the background just makes it for a Mani Ratnam flick. Just couple of small mistakes, Mani Ratnam usually makes sure that he has the crew names written in tamil when its a poster for tamil movie. Also silly statements like With an International Cast never happen on a Mani Ratnam flick banners. I am sure.

Anyone with the details on the source of this so-called-Mani-Ratnam-poster gets a warm applause in the next post.

Update 1 – Koushik, got inspired by this poster above, created one more using the same poster. Check it out here.