Mani Ratnam – A Profile – Part2
Geetanjali – Fragile but unbreakable
Geetanjali is the story of two fragile lives and their unbreakable bond of love. Prakash, a young man, full of life, is diagnosed of a dangerous disease and is informed that he hasn’t got many days before his chapter comes to an end. Devastated by the news, he seeks solace in the misty hill town, Ooty. In Ooty, Prakash meets Geetanjali, a lively young girl. While Prakash is one side of the coin, Geetanjali is the other side of it. After their initial meeting and petty quarrels they fall in love. When Prakash comes to know that Geeta is also a victim of a terminally ill disease and that she is counting days, a realisation dawns upon him. It is from that moment he starts living happily there by adapting to the philosophy, “What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.”
As a story Geetanjali is not unique. There were numerous films which dealt with the suffering of terminally ill patients. Mani Ratnam takes this story to a different level by putting two people in similar state of affairs and by capturing the lessons learnt by them.
Although the story of Geetanjali is a one liner, it is in the hands of Mani Ratnam it is fully developed in to a screenplay based on mostly, character and plot revelations. Even before the film titles roll, the audience as well as Prakash is revealed the status of his terminal illness. In the case of Geeta its different, the audience and Prakash comes to know of it at the same time while Geeta and her family lives with the fact from a long time. This adds an altogether different layer to the story. When Geeta learns of Prakash’s illness, a third and important layer of the screenplay evolves and there by creating, not only a three act structure out of a single line of story but also characters of multi-dimensions.
Although some of the shots in this film find references to “Whistle down the wind”, the film as a whole (excluding the comedy track) is the work of a genius.
Nagarjuna played the character of Prakash while Girija played the role of Geeta. Nagarjuna suited the role well but it is Girija who walked in to this film, captured the hearts of millions and walked away with glory. It is difficult to say what contributed to the success of this film. PC Sriram’s cinematography, Ilayaraja’s music, acting by Girija and Nagarjuna, scenic beauty of Ooty and Mani Ratnam’s direction are the constituents that moulded this film into a classic love story.
This was the only Telugu film directed by Mani Ratnam. In two years Geetanjali completes 20 years and it’s the right time to bring out a directors’ cut, possibly by excluding the isolated comedy track. Even otherwise Geetanjali is a great film and it is not an overstatement to say that ‘It’s a classic with a universal appeal and an eternal feel”.
Geetanjali was later dubbed in to Tamil and Malayalam and was a great success in both languages but the Hindi remake of this film bit the dust at the box-office.
Dalapati – The saga
Mani Ratnam’s films were always known for their story, screenplay, cinematography and casting not so popular actors (except for Kamal in Nayakan) in the lead roles. He never tried to bank on the star status to sell his films. With Dalapati, Mani made an exception. Dalapati featured two of the leading South Indian actors, Rajnikanth and Mammoty and it was the first film in their combination.
Dalapati takes the tale of Nayakan a bit further by exploring the relationships between a Don and his closest accomplice. Rajnikanth plays the role of Surya, an orphan abandoned at his birth. He grows up to become a generous and kind-hearted young man with a reputation of helping the needy and distressed. In one of his activities to help the troubled Surya attacks a guy connected to the underworld don Devraj (Mammoty) and ends up in jail. After an initial struggle, Devraj makes out the virtue of Surya’s activities. He helps Surya out of the jail, thus blossoms a strong bond of friendship and loyalty between them. However their friendship is put to a test when a new IAS officer Arjun (Arvind Swamy) is determined to put an end to Devraj’s criminal activities. A determined Surya decides to kill Arjun not knowing that Arjun is his own brother.
Although some of the scenes from Dalapati are reminiscent of his Godfather influence, it is from the well known epic of Mahabharat, that Mani drew his inspiration for this film.
Dalapati’s screenplay is one of the best in the career of Mani Ratnam. The multi-layered script dealing with relationships between, Rajni-Mammoty, Rajni-Arvind Swamy, Rajni-Sobhana, Rajni-Bhanu Priya, and Rajni-Srividya is truly a significant achievement.
Rajni and Mammoty delivered an outstanding performance where their star-power, only, improved the impact of their performances without consuming it. Dalapati, indeed, is one of the few rare films which captured the moving performance of the superstar Rajni. Mani Ratnam cleverly blends Rajni’s off screen status of a super-star with his charisma, screen-presence along with a raw energy, there by creating a larger-than-life character of Surya. Arvind Swamy plays the role of Arjun and it is one of the few roles in his career where he showed the ability to emote. Shobhana, Bhanupriya, Srividya and Amrish Puri are at their usual best.
Technically Dalapati is dazzling. Santosh Sivan’s cinematography is one of his best works. The earthy look and brilliant lighting scheme added to the success of this film. Like all of their previous films, the Mani-Ilayaraja combo delivered exceptionally first-rate music track. From the dance number “Rakamma” to the classical “Yamuna thatilo”, Ilayaraja delivered splendid songs along with a brilliant background music.
As a whole Dalapati is not different from any other ‘masala’ films of those days but in spite of having all the elements of a commercial masala film, Dalapati was shaped into a dark and compelling tale of friendship, loyalty, identity and relationships. This mysterious ways of taking an ordinary script to a different level with many dimensions was possible only to Mani Ratnam. His films were always a journey in to the mythical world of the character’s minds and it is his ability to involve the audience in the story, rather than placing them as passive viewers, made his films a class apart.
Roja – The flower that fought
Roja is the story of an innocent village girl who fights for her beloved husband Rishi. After her sudden marriage to Rishi, Roja accompanies him to Kashmir where he is posted at the Indian army communications centre as a signal decoding specialist. Roja’s happy life is devastated when Rishi is taken hostage by a separatist militant group. The rest of the story is about the unrelenting struggle of Roja to bring her husband back in to her small and beautiful life.
With five continuous successful films, Mani Ratnam fame and glory was mostly constrained to the southern strip of the country. After its initial success in Tamil and Telugu, Roja was subsequently dubbed in to Hindi. The success of this film was beyond belief. In less than a year the Mani Ratnam was a house hold name all over the country.
One major aspect of the film that propelled Mani Ratnam to national acclaim was the story with the nationalistic outlook. Although the character Rishi hails from the state of Tamilnadu, it is his love for the motherland that caught the soul of audience. One another aspect of the film that added to success of the film at the national level is the music by debutant music director A.R. Rehman.
Although, Roja is a patriotic story, it has its share of romance, love, emotions. With Roja Mani Ratnam has surely reached a greater level of maturity in dealing with issue based cinema.
Arvind Swamy played the role of Rishi while Madhubala played the role of Roja. What makes Mani Ratnam different is his extraordinary ability to stir up realistic emotions even from those actors who cannot emote. Roja was a perfect example of this. Neither Arvind Swamy nor Madhubala were great actors; their failure to make it big in their next films is a clear proof of that, but Mani Ratnam was more than successful in bringing out the best out of them. Pankaj Kapoor steals the show with his sensible portrayal in the role of a terrorist leader.
Santosh Sivan’s photography is breath taking. Be it the locales of Tamilnadu or the snow capped mountains of Kashmir; Santosh Sivan’s cinematography is exceptional.
Thiruda Thiruda – ??
After delivering seven hit films in a row, Mani Ratnam took a pause from the serious films and decided on a light hearted action comedy. Partly inspired by the Hollywood Blockbuster ‘Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid’, Mani Ratnam made the film ‘Thiruda Thiruda’, casting Prasanth, Heera, Raghu, Anu Agarwal in the lead roles.
Prasanth and Raghu are childhood pals and thieves. In one of their misadventures they end up almost getting caught and run away safely with a village belly, Heera. While these three are involved in their petty love triangle, a team of CBI officers are on the lookout of a dreaded criminal who masterminded one of the greatest robberies of India. How these stories collide and make way for some fun and excitement is rest of the story.
Mani Ratnam clearly departed from his serious style of filmmaking and went ahead with a genre based slick flick. The film was not received well at the box-office. Some people still think that the film was well ahead of its times, while others write it off as a mish-mash of Hollywood action thrillers. The discussion might continue forever but it is an undeniable fact that the filmmaking mechanics of this film were really ahead of its times. Be it the usage of Akela cranes, colour grading, background music, action sequences, it had all the best bits but, sadly, as a whole it didn’t workout.
Ram Gopal Varma was the co-writer for the screenplay of this film. A R Rehman, who took the nation by craze with his earlier film, Roja, delivered some of the memorable songs and BGM tracks for this film, thus forming another greatest director-composer combination after Mani Ratnam-Ilayaraja combination. The songs from this film were a great culture shock to the south Indian audience. The western feel in many of the songs were trendsetters in their own way. Although the film did not do well the music from the film got a tremendous response. P C Sriram’s cinematography was one of the best parts of this film apart from ARR’s music.
This film was later dubbed in to Telugu and Hindi but the fate of the film remained same everywhere.
Bombay – guns n roses
After garnering nationwide fame with his earlier film ‘Roja’, Mani Ratnam continued his journey with yet another issue based film, ‘Bombay’ with Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala in the lead roles.
Bombay is the love between a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl and the events that take place in their lives during the Hindu-Muslim riots in 1993.
Sekhar (Arvind Swamy), a journalist for the Indian Express returns from Bombay to his sea-side village in South India on a holiday. He falls head over heels for a Muslim girl, Shaila (Manisha Koirala). Luckily Shaila reciprocates to Sekhar’s feelings and in no time they are truly, madly, deeply in love; but the familial resistance from both the sides sets a big obstacle for their union.
After the marriage proposal ending in a heated argument between the lovers’ fathers, an angry Sekhar leaves to Bombay. Soon afterwards Shaila escapes from her village and meets Sekhar. They both get married and are blessed with twins, Kabir and Kamal. The kids are raised in both the religions. With the arrival of the kids the broken relationships with their respective families are patched up.
Meanwhile, in Bombay, riots break out following the demolition of Babri Masjid. The growing tensions between Hindu Muslim communities bring in tragedy in to the lives of this Hindu-Muslim family.
Bombay remains to be one of the most controversial films of India. When Bombay was released in 1995 it created huge controversy and was banned in many countries. Although the film ends a happy note with Hindus and Muslims coming together and there by establishing a communal balance, critics claimed that Mani Ratnam’s film was anti-Muslim.
Keeping aside the religious sentiments aside Bombay is a wonderful film. The love story in the first half and the turbulences in the second half are dealt very well. The climax part of the film is what that doesn’t make this film a memorable classic. For what he has portrayed all through the film is diluted by showing a transformation in the whole community in few brief moments is, more or less, contrived. Here Mani Ratnam faltered a bit by choosing give the audience a dose of relief after all that they have gone through. If only he had chosen a different ending depicting the never ending conflict between the communities, Bombay would have really stood out as a wonderful film.
Technically this film had the best of the technicians. A.R.Rehman’s songs and the back ground music were absolutely incredible. Although Editing is over looked by many, Mani Ratnam’s films always boasted editors of a higher calibre. Suresh Urs, who edited Bombay, won the national award for best editing. Rajiv Menon’s cinematography was spellbinding.
Iruvar – Mani’s Ratnam
Iruvar-The duo, is the story of two individuals and their dreams, aspirations, desires and ideals. It is an epic tale based on the lives of MGR, Karunanidhi and Jayalaita. This film is a reflection of the marriage between films and politics in the state of Tamilnadu.
While working for a film Anandan (Mohanlal), an actor meets Tamizhchelvan (Prakash Raj), a writer; an immediate affinity is struck between them and a strong bond of friendship is developed. The film traces their friendship, support for each other and their falling out which eventually turns out into a political rivalry.
The two leads played by Mohanlal and Prakash Raj are very well described. The final scene of them together when they quietly look at each other approving and caring even at the height of their rivalry is a fine example of an exceptional piece of filmmaking talent from Mani Ratnam.
Although it is a film about Tamil cinema and the politics, this biopic can be enjoyed for the sheer brilliance of the directorial skills of Mani Ratnam, engaging cinematography by Santosh Sivan, melodious music tracks by AR Rehman, splendid acting by all the actors – including Aishwarya Rai and for everything else that made up this film. But it is advisable to have a thorough understanding about the lives of MGR and Karunanidhi, as this story is all about them.
Honestly Iruvar is a very difficult film to write about. There is so much to say but it is very difficult to tell. It is not just a film; it is an experience. Iruvar is the greatest achievement in the career of Mani Ratnam and it remains the jewel in the crown of Tamil cinema.
Part 1 is here
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
are
Does the Hindi version of ‘Geetanjali’ feature Aditya Pancholi as the main lead?? Because I think I remember a film like this from when I was a kid with Aditya Pancholi as the male lead
‘yaad rakhegi duniya’ was hindi remake of Geetanjali…
thinking….nightout today or weekend??
i appreciate ur patience venkat….
what happened to the follow-up of Mr.Balachandar’s post???
btw..the worst remake ever made was the geethanjali remake in hindi…
Yes, Iruvar DVD is available with English subtitles. Even for basic Tamil speakers like myself, the English subtitles are very useful to understand the brilliance of the poetry used in the film. The language is very very strong. The DVD picture and sound transfer is pretty good too, although the picture is framed at a 1:1.33 classical ratio. I have not seen it off 35mm so I don’t know if in fact it is the correct aspect ratio. The framing seems fine and no unintentional cropping is visible. So I’m guessing Santosh Sivan and Mani Sir shot it in that ratio to reflect the way films were made in that time period. Undoubtedly Mani Sir’s finest film, features in my list of 10 greatest Indian films of all time.
Vijay bhai… Iruvar DVD kahan milegi??? Searched everywhere.
Even I have the DVD, Vijay. I guess its on PYRAMID.I do not understand Tamil, but the DVD and the film remains a prized possession. I use the film often as a looking glass to dissect Indian cinema, it is almost a benchmark, so rich, diverse and referential.
ravptor, Iruvar DVD is a little tough to find. Email me. Kuch karte hain.
Gitanjali was agonisingly close to hrishda movie ” Mili”….But nothing can be taken away from Gitanjali…it was pure cinema….the way PCS captured the morning fog is incredible….
I liked “Yaad Rakhegi Duniya” as much as I liked “Geetanjali”. It had Aditya Pancholi and Rukhsar in the lead. Ruksar stopped acting after that and made a comeback in RGV’s D and Sarkar. She played Kay Kay Menon’s wife’s charector in Sarkar.
I have heard that there were lots of fights when Dalapati was released. Theatres were burnt and damagaed b’cos Rajnikant character was killed during the mid of the movie. It was a Mammooty film and Rajnikant was the sidekick. The audience could not accept that their God got killed in the film. The shows of the movie was stopped. The movie was re-shot and re-released with a different story and different ending. I don’t know if this is true. But, this is what I have been hearing whenever anybody talks about Dalapati. The movie was dubbed in Hindi and it was succesful also.
Rajni played “Karan” from mahabharat and the original ending was like Karan even Rajni dies…in the Mallu version of Dalapathi I think they still have the ending where Rajni dies….saving Mammooty….It was one of rajni’s best in recent times….can’t hardly wait for Shivaji……MAY 31st it is finally!!!!!!!!!!…..yahooooooooooooo
venkat – thanks for this brilliant article. The more said about mani saar’s films, the less it is.
I personally feel Iruvar is his BEST work … better than nayagan for me. The shot taking . .the language .. the knowledge of the subject they’ve chosen .. the song choreography … everything is simply brilliant.