Talking about Mani Rathnam, a sense of Elation and frustration grips me. Frustration because he makes one movie in about two years and elation because its worth the wait. Mani is probably is India’s best director, if not the best. Selecting five of his films is definitely a tough proposition because he hardly makes a bad movie. Even his so-called failures are great to watch.
Mani Rathnam has many firsts to his credit. An unusual way of storytelling, crisp dialogues, well-etched characters and spell binding music which he somehow gets out of his music director. He revolutionized cinematography in India. His association with P.C.Sriram, Santhosh Sivan, Rajeev Menon, Madhu Ambat and Ravi Chandran has given us magical images. He gets the best out of everybody in his unit.
He got the best out of Ilayaraja & gets the best out of A.R.Rahman (somehow everyone gives their best to Mani). To select five is really tough but I would do it anyway.
5) IRUVAR
A classic period film dealing with politics in Tamil Nadu during the 1940’s to 1970’s.This film was loosely based on the real story of Tamil nadu politics during that era. This film is a spell binding one. It failed at the box office, but for me it?s a classic. It won awards everywhere except India.
The film also marked the debut of Aishwarya Rai.The film starred Mohanlal as the famous film star & Prakash Raj as his friend. How these two friends turn into political foes yet respecting each other?s views makes this film doubly interesting. Mohanlal & prakash Raj gave spellbinding performances. The film also starred Revathy, Gowtami & Tabu. Music was by A.R.Rahman & photography by Santhosh Sivan.
4) IDAYATHAI THIRUDATHEY/GEETHANJALI
Can two people enjoy their lives when they know they are going to die? This is exactly the concept behind the film. The film starred Nagarjun and Girija. Nagarjun meets with an accident. While taking treatment, he is diagnosed of cancer. He gets depressed and heads to a hill station. There he finds a young girl fully enjoying her life. Later on he becomes aware that the girl is also going to live for only a few days. He then changes the way he used to live and starts enjoying the time he has on his hands.
This was one of the most moving films I have ever seen in my life. Nagarjun gave his best performance and Girija was no less. Music by Ilayaraja can easily challenge the best made from Hollywood. Cinematography was beautifully done by P.C.Sriram, especially the scene where the fog enters the room and the ’’Om namaha’’ song where the camera goes around Nagarjun and Girija.The film was originally made in telugu.
3) ROJA
Well need not talk too much about this film. One of the all time great movies of Indian cinema. This was the first time Mani Rathnam combined a strong political concept & a beautiful love story. It was his first Commercial/Art film. It marked the debut of one of the best music directors of our time; A.R.Rahman.
It is the story of how a wife goes in search of her husband after terrorists in Kashmir capture him. It is also the story of how a man can change a terrorist’s thoughts. The film had great performances from Arvind Swamy and Madhu.The best performance came from Pankuj Kapur as the terrorist. Santhosh Sivan did the photography.
2) MOUNA RAGAM
An engrossing film on a married couple. The wife hates the husband and how she changes and realizes his love for her. This gradual change was beautifully depicted by strong performance by Mohan and Revathy.The best performance came from a little cameo by Karthick who stole the limelight. This film established Mani Rathnam as a director to reckon with. It had soul stirring music by Ilayaraja.Its background score is one of the best I have ever heard. The piano piece in the movie is so popular that almost all mobile phone users in Tamil Nadu have it as their ringtone. Photography was by P.C.Sriram
1) KANNATHIL MUTHAMITTAL
A terrific film based on a child who comes to know that she is adopted. She starts to get angry with her adopted parents and starts running away to find her original parents. This upsets the couple and they take her to her biological mothers homeland in Sri Lanka, a country torn by war where her mother is fighting a battle. This for me is the best Mani gave. Technically no Indian film has matched it as yet. The war scenes were breathtaking. Music by A.R.Rahman was awesome to say the least.
He won the national award for best music.Ravi.K.Chandran gave one of the best-photographed films one could see. The dazzling camera angles in ’’sundari song’’ and the realistic jerks during war scenes was terrific. Simran gave a sparkling performance as the adopted mother. Madhavan played her father. Nandita Das as the girl?s biological mother. The person who made the film her own was the 8-year-old Keerthana, who gave an award winning performance. It was easily the best performance by a child artiste.
For me these are his five best. It was tough to omit Nayakan, Anjali, Bombay, Alaipayuthey and Thalapahti (One of the best performances by Rajnikant), but then these are the ones I love to watch again and again.