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.