When it comes to the mechanics of film making, certain directors have the knack of playing to the galleries and the hearts of their audience.And when the talk rolls on that account, what better than to talk of the magician himself-the one and only, Mani Rathnam.The man has all the critics fighting hard with the Webster’s to describe his style even asymptotically.BOMBAY was based onm the early 90s riots of the city when its streets were washed in blood, not to speak of the hearts that bled.A sensitive topic from every angle.plus the ’forces’ operative in the country, plus the prevelent tension in those days{1995-when the movie was released}, only a hard-knock conviction was what could have ’needled’ the movie through controversy into the lap of the all-decisive audience.The Hindi prints of the movie were the dubbed version of the original.On the blood-spurting background oof the Hindu-Muslim disunity, two lovers decide to defy the confines of their religious beliefs and come to BOMBAY where the protagonist [male] is employed.There, in the midst of some multi-spectrd events, they are blessed with twins.Meanwhile the riots break out.Both their families still attached to them, at least their progenies, finally give up their ’spell’ of hatred and their fathers come to live with them.The treatment of this film was no ordinary task coz the twists and turns are too ’sharp’ for an ordinary director to even conceive of.The whole film has the flavour of a documentary based on real life depiction of an event through he lens of a witnessing conscience who is sentimental about the cause of a common Indian, doesnot matter what book he reveres , and that is what is the nucleus of the movie.The larger than life music of A R Rahman sends a chill through the spine and strikes some unstruck note within the soul, everytime the maestro strums the six strings or decides to lay his hand over the membrane of the Tabla .The qawwali flavour in ’Kehna Hi Kya’ is enchanting and speaks of the rich melody of the form.THe expert team of technicians including Suresh Urs are irresistible when it comes to capturing a frame from the best optimized angle through the lens.All in all, this is one of a class movie which is too complete in a number of dimensions to comment on any one of them.An out and out treat for the eye who wants something different, original and artistic and at the same time yearns to flood its tear glands when the hue of the screen if damped with sentiments.