Mani Ratnam says he was interested in cinema only as a viewer.
Kolkata:
Noted filmmaker Mani Ratnam, who hasgiven some landmark films including Roja, Bombay and DilSe, says he was enjoying his life as a well-paid managementconsultant after finishing MBA from a top B-school 35 yearsago when chance gave him an entry into the world of films.
"It was an accident. I was interested in cinema only as aviewer. I never thought I'd take it up as a career. I neverthought I would sit and write and actually direct films," thedirector says in a new book 'Conversations with Mani Ratnam'.
The book, based on the filmmaker's freewheelinginteractions with film critic Baradwaj Rangan, published byPenguin, reveals how the reticent man who went on to delivergems in Hindi and Tamil films switched over to cinema.During the seventies, Ratnam was so fed up of watchingsub-standard Tamil films that he decided to push the barhimself.
"Even now I feel that if enough good Tamil films weremade, I wouldn't become a filmmaker," the acclaimed filmmaker,favoured both by critics and the box-office, says.Besides those by Balachander and Mahendran, he says,"The rest of the films, predominantly, were not good. Tamilcinema had stagnated. The films were so ordinary and withoutany flair that you felt you could do better even if you didn'tknow anything about cinema".
When his friend Ravi Shankar was making a Kannada filmin 1979, the 56-year-old Ratnam had his first brush with thevisual medium as he helped him in the script."Up to that point in my life, except for writing a fewletters occasionally to my father from the hotel asking formoney, I had not done any form of creative writing," herecalls.
This stint in script-writing proved to be career-changingfor him as he decided to direct films."That's when I thought I'd write a script, sell it to adirector, work alongside and learn everything about direction,and then I thought I would be ready for a full-fledged careerin films.
"In the worst case scenario, I could go back and get ajob. But that was just insurance. Once you get bitten by thisbug, you get seriously bitten," he said.
His first film was the Anil Kapoor starrer Kannada filmPallavi Anupallavi in 1983.Striking a fine balance between art and commerce, he wenton make films in many south Indian languages and his Tamilclassic Nayakan is among Time magazine's '100 best moviesever' list.
Although some his works like Yuva and Bombay havetouched upon various issues affecting the society, Ratnaminsists he is not attempting to give any messages.
"I don't make movies to give messages. Films are aboutsharing an experience or sharing your angst or your concernsabout something with a larger group of people," he said.Offering readers a peek into the mind of the auteur, thebook examines the evolution of Mani Ratnam's works takingone film at a time.
"It was an accident. I was interested in cinema only as aviewer. I never thought I'd take it up as a career. I neverthought I would sit and write and actually direct films," thedirector says in a new book 'Conversations with Mani Ratnam'.
The book, based on the filmmaker's freewheelinginteractions with film critic Baradwaj Rangan, published byPenguin, reveals how the reticent man who went on to delivergems in Hindi and Tamil films switched over to cinema.During the seventies, Ratnam was so fed up of watchingsub-standard Tamil films that he decided to push the barhimself.
"Even now I feel that if enough good Tamil films weremade, I wouldn't become a filmmaker," the acclaimed filmmaker,favoured both by critics and the box-office, says.Besides those by Balachander and Mahendran, he says,"The rest of the films, predominantly, were not good. Tamilcinema had stagnated. The films were so ordinary and withoutany flair that you felt you could do better even if you didn'tknow anything about cinema".
When his friend Ravi Shankar was making a Kannada filmin 1979, the 56-year-old Ratnam had his first brush with thevisual medium as he helped him in the script."Up to that point in my life, except for writing a fewletters occasionally to my father from the hotel asking formoney, I had not done any form of creative writing," herecalls.
This stint in script-writing proved to be career-changingfor him as he decided to direct films."That's when I thought I'd write a script, sell it to adirector, work alongside and learn everything about direction,and then I thought I would be ready for a full-fledged careerin films.
"In the worst case scenario, I could go back and get ajob. But that was just insurance. Once you get bitten by thisbug, you get seriously bitten," he said.
His first film was the Anil Kapoor starrer Kannada filmPallavi Anupallavi in 1983.Striking a fine balance between art and commerce, he wenton make films in many south Indian languages and his Tamilclassic Nayakan is among Time magazine's '100 best moviesever' list.
Although some his works like Yuva and Bombay havetouched upon various issues affecting the society, Ratnaminsists he is not attempting to give any messages.
"I don't make movies to give messages. Films are aboutsharing an experience or sharing your angst or your concernsabout something with a larger group of people," he said.Offering readers a peek into the mind of the auteur, thebook examines the evolution of Mani Ratnam's works takingone film at a time.
