I still feel like a beginner, says star filmmaker Mani Ratnam PTI Tuesday, June 15, 2010 20:13 IST Last updated: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 21:01 IST
[image: Email] Email <javascript:emailArticle(1396806,7);> [image: Print] Print <http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1396806> [image: Share] Share<http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_i-still-feel-like-a-beginner-says-star-filmmaker-mani-ratnam_1396806#share> *Mumbai: *His credentials as a filmmaker are well established and he is on the wish list of top Indian film stars, but Mani Ratnam still feels like a newcomer before the release of each new film. <http://www.dnaindia.com/img/1396832.jpg> <http://www.dnaindia.com/img/1396832.jpg> *Growing in stature*: Abhishek Bachchan during a road show in Mumbai last week to promote*Raavan* ------------------------------ - * * The Tamil director is awaiting the release of his bilingual film*Raavan* this Friday. "I am not worried about the craze and expectations from others," Ratnam said. "I just want to get the film right and do as good as I can. I feel as pressurised as a beginner before every release." The 54-year-old director, who made films like *Roja*, *Dil Se*,*Bombay* and *Guru*, which won both critical acclaim and box-office success, said he often turns to his writers and actors for help while making a film in Hindi. "I trust the writer when he says something will not sound right in Hindi," he said. "I ask him how would it sound right. I trust the actor and discuss it with him. So we discover many things together." The director, fondly called Mani Sir by his actors and crew, believes that making a film in Hindi is a liberating experience because he lets go of the control. "In Tamil, I hold more reins and control while in Hindi, I trust the other persons more, so it becomes a liberating experience," he said. Ratnam described making *Raavan*, which stars Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, and Vikram, in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously as a "huge task". "I am an instinctive filmmaker and the challenge is not to let go totally the instinct while directing a scene in two different languages," he said. "Once you finish a shot you can't move on to the next shot immediately. The tempo just changes." Ratnam, who has given Abhishek Bachchan hits like *Yuva* and*Guru*, does not think he is responsible for the upswing in the actor's career. "I have not done anything drastic for Abhishek. I just made him play a character which is close to him. Since *Yuva*, Abhishek has grown as an actor by leaps and bounds," he said. "As a filmmaker you are selfish, you want what is right for your film. If I think Abhishek can do a role well and if he is equally interested, then we do it together. It is simple." Ratnam said that in all three films he has done with Bachchan so far, he had given the actor drastically different characters and he had delivered each time. "He has done something which we did not know how to do, but we managed and he was able to get across the gist of the character on screen," he said. "Abhishek is great to work with and he has been able to convert the film into a fine product. But unless we find something new we will not work," the director said. According to Ratnam, *Raavan* as compared to *Guru* and *Yuva* is larger than life and needed flamboyance in the portrayal. Bachchan managed to shed his inhibitions to portray the character convincingly, he said. The director wanted to cast Bachchan in the Tamil version as well, as Dev. "But Abhishek would have had to learn the language first and I would have still been shooting," he laughed. But he is happy with Aishwarya's progress in Tamil. "Her Tamil is as good as my Hindi," Ratnam remarked. "But she understands the language and picks up the dialogues fast." Ratnam said the actress's formal training in Tamil started when she made her debut with his 1997 Tamil movie *Iruvar*. But the perfectionist that Ratnam is, he does not like to look back on his previous movies because he sees "only mistakes". The veteran filmmaker believes cinema is an extension of story-telling and he likes to narrate his stories in a language that the audience understands. "I don't believe in being different for the sake of being different," he said, adding that all his films deal with facets of relationships. "Every film cannot have the same element. The idea of *Raavan *struck while I was shooting the last schedule of *Guru*. I even discussed the concept with Aishwarya," he said. Ratnam said he had high regard for Oscar-winner AR Rahman, who has been a permanent fixture in his movies as music director. In fact, it was Ratnam's *Roja* that first introduced Rahman to the Hindi audiences. "He wants to do something new and experiment. He leaves away safety and does not want to concentrate on commercially hit songs," Ratnam said. This time, the director is introducing Tamil superstar Vikram to audiences across India through his film. "Why not... he brings freshness to the script," Ratnam said. Incidentally, Ratnam has yet not decided on his next project after *Raavan*. "I have two, three ideas in mind. Nothing has been finalised." http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_i-still-feel-like-a-beginner-says-star-filmmaker-mani-ratnam_1396806 -- - Regards ~ ~ A.R.Rajib ~ ~
