Wishing Mani Ratnam a very happy birthday! 🙂
Category Archives: Mani Ratnam
Interview with Mani Ratnam
I enjoyed reading this wonderful interview with Mani Ratnam. A nice interview after a long time with none of the usual questions!
Bombay
At first look, this movie starts off as just another love story set in a village. A guy getting floored by the beauty of a girl – that’s all. Unlike Rishi (Arvind Samy) and Roja’s (Madhubala) in Roja or Karthik (Madhavan) and Shakti’s (Shalini) in Alaipayuthey or Manohar (Karthik) and Divya’s (Revathy) in Mouna Raagam or for that matter, even Gautam (Prabhu) and Anjali’s (Amala) in Agni Nakshatram, which are love stories where their initial courting scenes to the scene where they express their love for each other itself are some unforgettable scenes, with the dialogues making them all the more memorable, this movie doesn’t have any of those. Except for the scene where Shekhar (Arvind Samy) gets into the same boat as Shaila Bhanu’s (Manisha) and tells her of his love, there are practically no dialogues between the two of them. But that’s where the song, ‘Uyire’ comes in – there couldn’t have better words than the lyrics of the song to express their love for each other.
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The Best Song Ever!
8 years it has been since the song got released. Still it is the only one song that I wouldn’t hesitate to call as my most favourite one among everything I have listened to till date. Be it Tamil, Telugu or Hindi, it is one of the few songs which sounds beautiful in all the languages, though I must admit that I don’t understand most of what is sung in Telugu. It does not matter whether it is Hariharan or Sonu Nigam who is singing it. Both their voices suit the song perfectly. And what should I say about the variety of emotions it evokes in me today? Whenever I remember all those wonderful times I spent with my sister discussing about this song endlessly after we first listened to it, both of us watching the video of this song on repeat mode almost every single day after watching the movie and becoming absolutely crazy about it, later listening to the Telugu version of this song and realizing that it sounds as nice as the Tamil version (unlike most of the songs) and listening to that too on repeat mode, the Hindi version too getting added to the list after a few years, all the while becoming more and more passionate about Rahman’s music and Mani Ratnam’s movies with every passing day – Oh it makes me so nostalgic! When I think of the times I have immediately cheered up on listening to/watching this song or when I found this song to be the greatest stress buster after a stressful day, all I can do is say a big thanks to Rahman and Mani Ratnam for giving us such a lovely song and wonder about the power of music! When I think of the times when I was so happy and watching/listening to this song made me all the more happy, I know that’s the magic of Rahman’s music and Mani Ratnam’s picturization of it only makes it all the more beautiful! And what about the times when just thinking/talking about this song, brought a smile to my face instantly? 8 long years and yet nothing has changed. Even today, our faces light up immediately if we see the song playing in one of the channels while channel surfing! Even today, this is the song that I turn to when I am so irritated with a lot of things or am feeling a bit stressed. Even today, I consider watching this song to be a great way to unwind at the end of the day. And even today, the mere mention of this song is enough to bring a smile to my face. 🙂 And till date, this song has remained THE best picturized song of Rahman and I am sure it is going to remain that way forever! The combination of A.R.Rahman’s music, Mani Ratnam’s excellent song picturization, Vairamuthu’s beautiful lyrics and P.C.Sreeram’s cinematography at its best! Now don’t tell me you don’t know which song this one is! 😉
Thalapathy
This category has been screaming for my attention for a very long time now and I am back with a post along with a note to myself to keep this category alive by updating it with more posts regularly.
Thalapathy is supposedly the story of the man fondly called by his friend as his Thalapathy. But, is it just the story of that man alone? This is yet another movie in which Mani Ratnam portrays the emotions felt by each and every character so beautifully! As far as Mani Ratnam’s movies are concerned, even if the movie itself does not have a great script (of course, this is not the case with this movie), most of the characters nevertheless, stand out and so do a lot of scenes.
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Santhosha KaNNeerey/ Dil Se Re
I have always liked Santhosha kaNNeerey more than Dil Se Re. Maybe it’s because I listened to the Tamil version first. Anyway, I love the lyrics of both the songs (I like the words Santhosha KaNNeerey itself). What great lyrics that suits the mood of the song so beautifully!
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Costumes in Mani Ratnam’s movies
Simple, Neat and Contemporary – That is how I will describe the costumes in Mani Ratnam’s movies. As far as his movies are concerned, you very rarely come across a costume that doesn’t suit the actors or that you don’t like. The costumes go well not only with the setting of the movie but also with the current trend and that makes you feel as though the characters are one among us. Though there is nothing extraordinary about the costumes in Mani Ratnam’s movies, the natural look and feel that they give to his movies is what makes it appealing and the costumes in his movies have always been an object of interest to me.
Guys, you can skip reading the rest of this post if you want to, since I am going to focus mainly on the costumes of the leading ladies of Mani Ratnam’s movies. 😉
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Mani Ratnam’s movies
This post is actually a reply to Bharath’s comment here! Don’t scold me for posting continuously about Mani Ratnam’s movies. The reply to that comment ran for more than a page! So, I thought of posting it as a post. Read his comment before reading this post.
Agreed that the difference in style from Dil Se to Alaipayuthey is quite obvious. But, there lies the genius of Mani Ratnam. He can take any form of Cinema brilliantly. 😉 As Bharath has said, hasn’t he shown the complexities of relationships in such a simplified manner?
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Birthday Wishes!
Though I felt that it would be inappropriate if I wish Mani Ratnam on his birthday today, at this point of time, when he is mourning the loss of his brother, anyway, here’s wishing Mani Sir a long and healthy life. May no more untoward happenings occur in his life and May all the years to come be the best for him both personally and professionally!
Today is the birthday of another person, Music Maestro Ilaiyaraja. Wishing him a very happy birthday! Hope we get to listen to lots of wonderful compositions from him in the years to come!
Alaipayuthey (The Grand Finale)
The wedding:
If the wedding where Karthik and Shakti met first was so colourful and had a joyous atmosphere, their own wedding is not far behind in these aspects. Right from Madhavan’s blue shirt and Shalini’s maroon saree to the white garlands and the group of friends and Shakti’s sister pulling their legs and the Registrar making his presence felt through out his screen time, everything is picture perfect! Shot at Kapaleeswarar Temple, the wedding of Karthik and Shakti is the most beautifully picturized wedding sequence in Mani Ratnam’s films what with ‘Mangalyam’ scored by Rahman playing in the background. 🙂 After Karthik cleverly manages to dodge Mrs. Prema outside the temple and runs in, the beat of the song starts and you have Karthik taking the garland in his hand. If Mani Ratnam doesn’t utilize the songs appropriately, who else will? 😉
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