“Guru” Pre-Release Activities Show a Different Mani Sir
For years we fell in love with his cinema. Heavily mainstream, yet aesthetic; inspired, yet original; rugged, and yet emotional. Throughout it all, we knew Mani sir through the way his stories were told, the way his shots were framed and lit, the way his scenes were cut, how Ilayaraja and Rahman, Santosh Sivan and P.C. Sreeram, Suresh Urs and Sreekar Prasad consistently gave their best exclusively for him. I have known many who until earlier last year swore by Mani sir’s cinema, yet had no clue what he looked like. They wouldn’t have been able to recognize the genius even if he had caught them by the ear and dragged them across Chennai.
For years Mani sir spoke to his audience only through his films. Some were smash hits, in multiple languages. Even a mediocre fare like “Thiruda Thiruda” stormed the box office without much marketing. Ironically, “Kannathil Muthamittal” and “Iruvar” (arguably his best film) bombed, the latter’s performance proving even more surprising due to its political theme, given that Tamil Nadu is such a politically passionate state. His Hindi efforts “Dil Se” and “Yuva” were also unfairly panned by the Mumbai media, some who grossly wrote them off even before they released.
His films were always hyped to unrealistic levels even though he never uttered a word before their release. Even following their release, one would only witness the rare exclusive interview for a Tamil channel or publication that was genuinely interested in discussing cinema, and not his stars. At music launches and premieres, the man would quietly sit in a corner and watch the proceedings, preferring to let his work speak for itself, never offering the media even a little sound byte.
Perhaps that’s why the Mumbai media, angered, wrote off his films so vehemently. How else can one explain why “critics” like Taran Adarsh gave “Yuva” a 1-star rating, while showering films like “LOC” with 4-stars? Such strong reactions were also seen by a slew of other critics. Puzzling, for while it is no secret that Mani sir has made better films than “Yuva”, it was certainly a notch above the rest of the films being churned out. Ditto for “Dil Se” which was panned by the so called Mumbai critics, and went on to become a cult classic, a DVD that features pretty much in any cine-fan’s collection.
Recognizing all this, Mani sir has adapted, and quite well at that. The failures didn’t deter him from making another Hindi
movie. In fact, he’s gone even bigger this time. The difference now however is that the producer in him seems to have come out of the shell. Even before the shooting for “Guru” started, Mani sir began making public appearances at Mumbai film premieres and award functions as the cameras flashed right at him. A Mani Ratnam film’s story or even its premise which is almost never revealed, was all over the place this time. The stars were encouraged to speak about the film as Mani sir himself has been all over the news channels through interviews. Starting this week, he’s started getting on the good side of the internet press as well with exclusive interviews to Indiafm and Sify. When was the last time one heard Mani sir talking about his film prior to its release? And if his own efforst weren’t enough to publicize the film, as luck would have it, the Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding rumors arrive just weeks before the film is set to open.
For the first time, despite a collosal starcast, wonderful music, and simply the Ratnam brand name, a Mani Ratnam film has pulled its director into the limelight to behave completely out of character, at least of what his die-hard fans know of his personality. While one feels immensely happy for the publicity his film is recieving, and hopes with bated breath for the film to turn out well, somewhere, one misses that quiet, humble, honest storyteller who remained invisible, yet touched one and all.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
My god Vijay..I was thinking of the same thing today…that this is so uncharacteristic of the usual Mani Ratnam films publicity…it’s most of the times..the movies that speak for themselves…Guru being pasted all over the media…is so different…It’s either that or the Bachchans pulling out all the stops…for this one for obvious reasons…
Yeah VC. I remember the music launch with Amitabh Bachchan hosting it. Doesn’t get any bigger. And the whole thing seemed just so unnatural. You bring an interesting point about the Bachchan’s involvement. I saw some pictures today of the Bachchans going to pray in the Siddhi Vinayak temple just ahead of the film’s release, creating even more of a stir, with the media all over it.
May be Bachchans learnt something from Aamir, SRK, Karan Johar and Yash Raj. particularly Yash raj, Karan Johar and SRK publicise their movies really well. Whenever they have a major release, they arrange special interviews in 24 hour news channels and create hype around their movies.
GURU is most probably THE MOST important film in the career of AB Jr, he is playing a character which even BIG B might not have attempted in his prime.
Or probably it’s the hindi cinema effect where all from the cast and crew need to pose in front of the shutterbugs.
One great interview I read of Mani was on Hindu. Please do search for it. He was quizzed by everyone who is worth sitting next to Mani for a chat…..unlike…much unlike the aaj tak crew.
Even Sooraj Barjatya has started giving nterviews prior to the relase of his film.
I don’t see anything wrong in it.
Infact it is nice to see directors also getting some spotlight in star obsessed media.
The only recluse now left is Aditya Chopra.
But,the way YRF markets its movies is amazing.
Aditya along with tarun tripathi and his team always give their movies the best pre release hype possible.
I for one love to watch Making of movies. I believe that it can generate a lot of hype prior to the release.
One example that comes to my mind is the week before Mohabbatein and mission kashmir were to be released.
Mission kashmir had generated more hype than Mohabbatein (due to it being hrithik’s movie)
But just when the making Of Mohabbatein was aired,it helped in tilting the balance which was eveident in the opening Mohabbatein took v/s Mission kashmir.
Here is the URL to Vasan’s pointer:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2002/04/12/stories/2002041201050100.htm
quite uncharacteristic of mani ….
mani is perhaps playing safe … but his last two films were’nt hits … so i guess its ok.
here’s another Q that I remember someone asked Mani
“What is the tamil distributors’ reaction to the fact that u’ve stopped making tamil films and making hindi films ?”
MR – “They are happy now !! “
Kartik..the last one was superb… :d
I don’t know. Something just doesn’t seem to be right with Mani sir. Here is a man who only made movies he wanted to make. In his interview to Sify, he called Lajjo, his next film, a “commitment”. There seems to be just a sense of disinterest on his part in that film. He was asked when he would make a Tamil film again and he said, well I have a commitment to fulfill first in Lajjo, and then I’ll make a Tamil film.
Thats callled marketing dear!!! New rules of the game in the new era. Mani Ratnam or anybody else, the word “flop” is scary for everyone. So, he is doing what the marketing guys are telling him to do. From grand music release function in Mumbai to various city tours, everything possible. Ash-Abhishek together have delivered 3 super-duper flops earlier, so everyone knows how unlucky or bad actors they are!! Now even Papa Bachchan is doing everything for beta-bahut. He interviewed Abhishek about Guru on stage at the music release, is also making appearances with Aishwarya & Abhishek everywhere…..to creat that visibility, that buzz. About their marrige, that can help the film as well. Check out how Big B did that campaign “India Poised” for Times of India group. That will gurantee, good reviews for Guru,cover story on Filmfare and its other 100 publications.
But m in big dilemna. Want the movie to be hit cz of Mani Ratnam. But want it to flop because of those two bad actors…Aishwarya-Abhishek. Just cant stand them!!!
Phoenix, my whole point is not against marketing at all. Heck I believe that if one is not going to market a film, might as well not make it. It has to be done. My issue is seeing Mani Ratnam himself thrown, forced in the middle of all of this. It just seems like he’s been stripped of all his class, being made to appease the media monkeys.
I personally don’t see anything wrong in this, I don’t think he’s sold himself out in anyway. He’s playing it safe as teh media haven’t always looked favourable on him and he hasn’t seen success with his previous movie, to win the media is half the battle won. its a different marketing strategy for him but he isn’t really singing his own praises is he.
Vijay, agree. But I feel if Mani is uncomfortable, then he should take a stand and not do all these things, something that he has never done before. He should have the confident that his film will work without his dumb interviews. If u c the case of RDB and Munnabhai, Sanjay Dutt did no interviews for Munnabhai and similarly Aamir Khan for RDB. They started talking about it only after it released and became a hit. Thats confident of good cinema.
But since Mani’s Yuva and Dil se flopped big time, now he is doing whatever he is told to do. And then Papa Bachchan also must be telling him, the beta-bahu jodi has to click at any cost!!!
” Papa Bachchan also must be telling him, the beta-bahu jodi has to click at any cost!!! ”
=))
yeah right!
it does make one wonder.. but then again, if he feels that his past few films haven’t exactly been a success with him just taking everything sitting down, then maybe he’s just trying something new for a change, to see how it helps his next film. maybe this will be good in a way.. give him a reality check in a sense..? :-?
vijay,
hi, surya here, oz was mentioning to me regarding some film festival that you are associated with, can u write to me more about it on ohaahouch@yahoo.com vijay???