The Mani Ratnam&nbsp;Interview

That was really cool! Really looking forward to the other parts.

Just one quick point. I get what you were saying about Agni and OKK in terms of them being young films and probably his need to do them, following heavier subjects. But the “live-in” angle is just a sign of times, isn’t it? I say this from the perspective of discussing it openly in a film. As Mani said, it was happening even back then, at least in some parts of the country but we just didn’t discuss it much in films. Actually, we did but not in the way it was depicted in OKK. For example, Raja Parvai comes to mind…you could call that a live-in relationship. So, was it really boundary pushing compared to Agni? And I’m not saying that Agni was boundary pushing either. And of course, I see the other side too where Mani doesn’t get half the credit because he is a “commercial” director!

PS: FDFS of KV….can’t wait! 🙂

LikeLiked by 2 people

karthiknach

when is the next video being released? Great interview!

LikeLike

lakshmi

MANK: His wish for someone coming to him with a bound script – may be you should write one and drop it in his lap

Yes! A film written by BR and directed by MR. How wonderful would that be!

LikeLike

karrvakarela

Good interview, Baradwaj. Looking forward to the other parts.

Incidentally, for those of us who don’t speak Tamil, what was that line that Gautam Menon quoted from Mouna Ragam? What does it mean?

LikeLike

r5arun

Excellent interview. I like the specificity! From the several interviews that I have been seeing of Manirathnam in the lead to up release, nobody really bothered to ask him about the craft. In that regard you seem to have logically progressed from Conversations.

I think your interviews with Manirathnam and Vetrimaran (that was specific too!) have been the high points of your new career! All the best! May be there is scope for you to do video essays.

LikeLike

theunusualsuspect

Guys its just an interview..can we not go all tits up here.

Jeez!

LikeLike

blurb

Watched the movie. Cannot wait to read your review. 🙂

LikeLike

sachita

You are getting comfortable in front of camera.

LikeLike

Jupe

Just back from watching the movie FDFS and I must confess it wasn’t anything close to what I expected…I am really curious now to see how you experienced the movie 😉

LikeLike

Jyoti S Kumar

karrvakarela: Neenga thotta odambila kambili poochi odra mathiri irukku. When you touch me, i feel that caterpillars (the itchy kind) are crawling up my skin. (not exact tranlsation)

Sachita: True, he seems more relaxed. The interviews are good, but then again he has a lot of experience doing stage interviews etc. The video reviews nowadays are also so much better with expressions and inflections. But it also feels a little rushed, with no pauses between sentences, imho

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reuben: Thank you. It was very tough doing this on video. I am used to probing in print, because you can keep interrupting and direct the interview the way you want it to go, but here you have to be conscious of the fact that you can’t keep cutting in. At least, I hope I did not sound like that.

MANK: “now that you are determined to appropriate the hollywood studio hype machine to its fullest by bifurcating a single piece in to 3 parts”

Haha. Or is it “trifurcating”? 🙂 But seriously, we could not put out a 2.5 hour video. The digital guys at FC said no one would watch it. It’s all their call, really.

Jyoti S Kumar: Yes, this past week has been murder. It’s just been shooting this and sitting with the editor and shaping it. Lots of fun, but just wish we’d had more time.

Shankar: No. I am not talking about boundary pushing. Yes, a lot of things exist around us. But Tamil cinema is very, very conservative about what it chooses to show. And most directors end up adhering to certain norms (heroine should be virgin, etc.) That’s where I was trying to take this question.

karthiknach: Parts 2/3 over the weekend.

r5arun: Excellent interview. I like the specificity!

Thanks, but specificity has always been something I have gone after. Even in my reviews. (Which is why some people don’t like to read what I write.) Glad I was able to bring some of that here too.

To all those who said I am getting comfortable in front of the camera: Thank you. This feels like how “you write well” felt 15 years ago 😀

LikeLiked by 2 people

BR Discoverer (formerly the "original" venkatesh)

“I am used to probing in print, because you can keep interrupting and direct the interview the way you want it to go, but here you have to be conscious of the fact that you can’t keep cutting in” -This.

Great interview.

However , its missing a certain sense of depth or may be i am old

LikeLike

Venu

Great interview Rangan. Looking forward to the next 2 parts. Like others mentioned, you are getting quite good in front of the camera.

I for one was glad you joined FC. Video is the future. Your output has increased.

LikeLike

tonks

You do look very at ease here.

Speaking of Beatles songs in movies being cosmopolitan, Nivin Pauly’s new movie is called “Hey Jude” 🙂

LikeLike

Adite Banerjie

Fantastic interview. Enjoyed the questions as much as the answers. How does one get a script to Mani Ratnam…. please do tell!

LikeLike

vijay

So a video conversations with Mani ratnam after the book. I don’t think apart from Suhasini anyone else could have made him talk so much 🙂

idhellam book’la kekkaadha kelviya or were you re-addressing some points which you felt weren’t answered well by him earlier? Because a lot of the questions weren’t about kaatru veliyidai but general ones.

LikeLike

Ramchander Krishna (@ramctheatheist)

April 8, 2017

Great interview. Looking forward to the next parts. Very interesting how a song that the actress is listening to or a dish she makes can be used to reveal her worldview to the audience. This is where he scores over the typical ‘nadagam’ directors of Tamil cinema.

LikeLike

April 8, 2017

Loved the chopstick obsession. Only few people can understand such obsession over details 🙂

I also like how you’re probing him more on the creative process and how he writes. Looking forward to the next part!

LikeLike

venkatr

April 8, 2017

For the first time something in this blog i totally didn’t like. The interview felt very formal and pretentious. Yes, the questions are all good. But great interviews flow naturally, this felt like questions being raised and answers given that’s all.I really liked both the interviews of rajeev masand and gautham vasudev menon. They all raised good questions more importantly felt like the interviewer genuinely wanted to know the answers. The cut aways to bytes by others ruined the ambience for the interview. I really liked the GVM interview it felt like an interview form of a piece from Before trilogy.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Part 2 just went live (link above).

LikeLike

blurb

WOW. I mean, WOW. Part 2 just blew me out of my mind.

Thanks.

LikeLike

Dani

Mr.Rangan,

I found the interviews to be very insightful. We,as viewers, easily discard a movie and don’t realize the craftsmanship that goes into making one. Getting into the mind of one of the most admired directors in India is not an easy task and you asked the kind of questions that helped probe into MR’s mind. I learnt some aspect of filmmaking today, which I thought I would never thought would happen. Most of the interviews are conducted from a fan’s perspective and hence involves a lot of hero worship. Thankfully this one was different. Looking forward to Part 3

LikeLike

Great, second part was even better. Very educative for a layman like me as to how many different ways a scene can be conceived or shot. I thought your question as to whether this kind of parting from the script on the shoot can lead to drifting was great because being honest I have felt that at times with his films and it’s the one thing that nags me. That maybe somewhere in the drifting, the power of the climax is lost. It is very subjective and maybe other viewers won’t perceive it that way so it’s down to my tastes as well.

LikeLike

I am not talking about pacing per se here (to link back to the discussion on the Kaatru Veliyadai thread). I am fine with slow pacing. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is slow paced and stark, a hard swallow if you are not prepared for that kind of film. But what does it finally build up to, what’s the culmination.

LikeLike

"Original" Venkatesh

BR: I figured out what the issue is (at least for me).

Its a mixture of 3 things (in no order):

(a) You seem to be not listening to him, when MR answers you are looking at your notes to ask the next question. This is a pet peeve of mine. If the interviewer himself is not interested in listening to the subject then how can you expect the viewers to do so?

(b) Lack of follow-up questions , except for one specific answer in the first interview , you didnt follow through a question based on the answer. GVM’s interview was a lot better in that respect.

(c) Location : The background repeats , as its wont to do, thats really distracting. Not sure if you have any say on this.

On the plus side , the content of the interview is at least 10 levels above everything else you see out there and MR is clearly into the interview. This is a huge plus , so my issues are with the form.

What does everyone else think ?

LikeLiked by 1 person

Original Venkatesh is BR Discoverer a illa Honest Raj a?

LikeLike

blurb

Ah, sorry. Here’s the typo free one.

“Original” Venkatesh I don’t quite agree with (a) or (b). But agree with (c). The location and background weren’t great. Was much better for the Vetrimaran one, I thought.

Even the camera angles and lighting were not great (they were really good in the Vetrimaran one). The viewers (at least many of us here) are as interested in the interviewer as they are in the interviewee. There didn’t seem to be much focus on the interviewer at all.

But, the content. WOW.

LikeLike

Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)

The second part is even more insightful than the first. Looking forward to the last part.

Any idea about the ‘senior cameraman’ that he’s referring to at 21:10? Balu Mahendra?

LikeLike

pgkrish

Loved the second part!! Haven’t enjoyed an interview like this in a long time. When Santosh Sivan and Vetrimaaran spoke about framing and composition, I ended up revisiting Iruvar.

LikeLike

"Original" venkatesh)

@Madan: “Original Venkatesh is BR Discoverer a illa Honest Raj a?”

BR Discoverer. 🙂

LikeLike

Prash

Nice, though I wish the parts were structured such that we got to hear more of MR, even if all the guests had fascinating insights to offer. Maybe have 4 parts or something and more talking from MRji. Because everytime he stopped talking, I eagerly waited for him to come back. And also add me to the chorus that says you are getting very comfortable in front of the camera now and more fluid with your movements. 🙂

I also noticed he spoke about the sandstorm scene from KV and was so emotional taking about it. I liked the word he used “traumatic”.

LikeLike

Gaah

Agree with your points a and b Venkatesh. At least in the video format, BR should look more engaged with the interview instead of making sure he gets through his questions nd ask more follow up questions. Will make the interview flow better.

LikeLike

blurb

Konjum romba vettiya, I watched all MR interviews this past weekend. Wow, he’s just such a pleasure to listen to.

LikeLike

blurb

Mani Ratnam addresses elitism in his movies; watch from 11:40.

LikeLike

harish ram

what happened to part 3? hope the copyrights is resolved.

LikeLike

Aditya (Gradwolf)

I have to say more than MR, people like Rajiv Menon/Vetrimaaran/Revathi make this interview what it is. Menon’s stuff is just too good.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Aditya: Thanks 🙂 It took almost a month of running around.

I wrote a basic “screenplay” and kept figuring out — as the shoots went on — who should talk about what.

The toughest thing is to nudge them (the non-MR interviewees) into a zone of non-cliches. Because they are so used to the “bite” culture that the first thing you get from them is “Mani sir is great” and “It was great to work with him” and things like that that are so boring.

So it took a while to let them talk about all this, get it out of their system, and keep prodding from behind the camera and take them to the places I wanted.

And after the interviews were over, I sat down and decided what clips to layer on, so that the lay viewer would “get” certain things… It was a lot of work and also a lot of fun.

LikeLiked by 9 people

Blah

That news18 interview is pissing me off. Wanna slap all these people going on and on about elitism. Like wtf. I’m a 100% sure if any of Mani’s 80’s movies released now, these same folks would hate it and call out “Madras” centricity. What does that idiot mean, “All your heros are superheros and all your heroines are beautiful”? Has he even seen any Mani films?

LikeLiked by 1 person

Blah

To satisfy the news 18 interviewer and others of his ilk, Mani can include 2 Jallikattu scenes, 2 dialogues about greatness of Tamil, 2 scenes where some North Indians are dissed, 2 scenes where hero talks about greatness of masculinity and how much more inferior woman is, in his next film.

LikeLiked by 3 people

MANK

I wrote a basic “screenplay” and kept figuring out — as the shoots went on — who should talk about what.

Huh, so you are finally a director. congrats 🙂

your hard work is much appreciated Brangan. both the interview and the insights of the people sounded so refreshing and very different from the ‘bites’ that they they seem to provide in other interviews. Revathi talking about how she designed the kitchen for Anjali was surprising -with the reputation that Mani has for being a dictator.A lot of myths about Mani has been dispelled through this interview.

Awaiting the final part with anxiousness and a bit of sadness- as its going to be the last-. i could listen to this for hours on end. 🙂

LikeLiked by 2 people

MANK: Haha. Thanks.

Part 3 should be up soon.

LikeLike

The most WTF-y comment for this interview on the YouTube page:

“very knowldgeable interview plz plz educate our generation by interviewing filmmakers like mani ratnam, sanjay gupta, rohit dhawan, sidharth anand”

LikeLiked by 1 person

Karthik

MANK a bit of sadness- as its going to be the last-. i could listen to this for hours on end

Ditto!

LikeLike

blurb

“very knowldgeable interview plz plz educate our generation by interviewing filmmakers like mani ratnam, sanjay gupta, rohit dhawan, sidharth anand”

Listening you both converse is immensely educative. And we’d love for you to interview the others as well. Why is this a WTF-y?

LikeLike

sravishanker1401gmailcom

Just checked out the interview Part I now. My treat to myself after a draining week and a painful quarterly close.

Very passionate (bordering on impatience ) questions and dangerously close to a Senate hearing with a tired witness.

I was reminded of Andy Roberts bowling to a determined but nervous Gavaskar.

BR, you really made the ball talk.

Thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed it !

Having said that, I must say hearing your voice for the first time was – (let down is too harsh a word) something like listening to Marlon Brando’s high pitched Don Frank Costello rasp after reading the book since you expect a more deeper, mesmerizing voice.

Lets just say your writing voice sounds much deeper.

Not to worry ! I’ll adjust to the new paradigm.

Really exciting stuff !

LikeLike

Raj Balakrishnan

Excellent interviews. Interesting stuff from Vetrimaran on that secene from Iruvar. And listening to MR is a great experience. I would love Mani to do something like A Separation – completely unconcerned about commercial aspects, without being forced to include songs. MR should have moved to international projects by now, like Ang Lee, the Iranian/South Korean directors; he is wasting his talent in the Tamil film industry. Even Ritesh Batra, with one film under his belt, is handling two international projects.

LikeLike

Ragenikanth

pls check out part 3 which is even better

LikeLike

Part 3 was fantastic too. About ARR often providing outlines for shooting the song, how would the actors lip sync to an outline? Or is the full vocal melody with lyrics available in the outline?

LikeLike

anon

BR, how much time did Mani end up spending with you? He’s done something like 50 interviews in the last week, poor guy.

LikeLiked by 1 person

anon

Kasakki puzhinjitaanga. But he was uniformly patient. I hope he breaks even on KV

LikeLike

rkjk

Great Stuff BR. Very well thought out and executed. Now I feel your move to FC may not have been bad after all. Dunno if you could have made such a detailed video essay with the Hindu.

LikeLiked by 1 person

doctorhari

Fabulous interview BR. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it. And I really wish he takes the web series/niche film ideas you had suggested seriously.

LikeLike

Anurag

Does it ever happen that directors agree to give interviews like this one immediately post release and reviews are out. Now that interview wud be real fun

LikeLike

MANK

This was epic. so sad it has come to an end..no reflection on all the great stuff that you have come up with over the years as a writer , but this triple treat of writer, director , Actor was by far your best work. 🙂 . dunno how you are going to top this Brangan.

P.S.i think Mani drops enough hints about his reasons for switching from IR to ARR. Its really the case of Brutus is a honorable man. 🙂

LikeLiked by 2 people

Jyoti S Kumar

BR sir, quick thinking comeback on the age line (I am older than I was twenty years ago!). I am quite overwhelmed by the number of considerations that goes into making a film and how flippantly we just dismiss the work and the people behind it with one word! I wonder whether all the film-makers put in so much thought and work into their movies!

LikeLike

KP

Hi Brag, wish u don’t use a script to interview anybody else in future. The paper in your hand looked like a school kid cramming in the last minute before Xmas. The free flow that I look forward to in your reading seems lost in the video.

PS- maybe am in the school which gets up to read the brangans, nirmal Shekar s and shivakumars

LikeLike

dagalti (@dagalti)

Very well done.

Look forward to more.

Even as someone who hasn’t enjoyed a movie of his in a while now – and to that extent couldn’t relate to your intro: ‘a director who has been at the top of his game’ – it was great to see how carefully considered, each stage of his process is.

So, தன் முயற்சியில் சற்றும் தளராத விக்ரமாதித்யனா, இன்னைக்கு KV பாக்கப்போறேன்.

LikeLiked by 1 person

நவீன்

Better than the movie length wise as well as structure wise.

LikeLike

Blah

Great stuff. Wish Arvind Swamy’s bit were longer. He’s been in so many Mani films and would probably have many stories. Mani himself was awesome – answering so many detailed queries with patience and openness. People will watch Kaatru Veliyidai when it plays on TV and on Amazon and be like, “hey, it’s pretty good – I should’ve caught this in the theatre” Sigh….

LikeLiked by 1 person

Maru

April 14, 2017

Bravo, brangan, this was an amazing watch – a peek into the mind of one of Indian’s finest directors. Across the 3 parts it gave us a real feel of what goes into Mani Ratnam’s cinema so much so that I wonder if I’ll lose some sense of being lost in the magic of Ratnam’s scenes to wonder about what he was going for in the scene! 😀 In particular, I found the contrast between Illayaraja and Rahman’s process super interesting and it illuminates why Rahman struggles or is impatient with explaining his abstract process in interviews. I’m glad you asked about Ratnam’s interest in doing online series for outlets like Netflix. It seems to me that a project like Ponniyin Selvan that he’s admitted to toying with can find the perfect platform on Netflix – the budgets are possible as is the space and time to tell an epic tale. I hope he’s able to explore that kind of medium and story.

It’s obvious that this interview series took a ton of work and thought – thanks so much for bringing it to us. I was gung ho about your move to Film Companion from the get go and this interview really demonstrates why, it may be a little obnoxious but I want to say I told you so to all the naysayers 😉

LikeLike