ExpertDabbler

Mani was at landmark. The Almighty of Alwarpet who had changed the way Tamil Cinema was perceived by the outside world was at his spontaneous, simple, creative best handling some difficult questions from a very intelligent but Mani crazy audience. He was there for the DVD and VCD release of his movies.

That he is a celebrity is a known fact. That he is also a very simple, humorous and casual person who can laugh at himself not many know. At least I did not know till now.

Some of the questions asked were what we always had wanted to ask Mani Ratnam. How he goes about writing the script. Essentially the behind-the-scenes process. How he has managed to bring about the best in his actors, his cameraman and the locations.

But regarding the method for writing or for that matter any pursuit which requires imagination I don’t believe there is any set way to accomplish. Each person is unique, original and innovative enough to have his own way.

All people who are in risky, imaginative domains like film making, creative writing don’t do just because it makes them fabulously rich. They do just because during those moments they are well and truly alive and fully aware of themselves, their perceptions, their emotions.

I certainly wanted to ask him a few questions.

Why does he leave some of the characters in his movies unfinished?

Is he really comfortable in handling stories “engineered” to suit a topical theme.?

Is he not banking too much on his treatment and visual style to augment a weak storyline which suits a current affairs topic when the world knows he is a master at dealing with relationships and all its nuances?

I did not ask for two reasons. I was not given an opportunity. I was not identified whenever I raised my hand. The other being I kind of did not mind it to leave unquestioned. Asking him these questions would have been finishing my thoughts about his movies, his craft. I had voluntarily chosen to send out a mail to some people and question them all to put a full-stop. But I wanted this Mani business to be left unfinished. Let my infatuation with his movies continue for some more time.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 26th, 2005 at 10:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.