Author Archives: admin

Couples in Mani Ratnam’s movies

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In the show ‘Mani Matters’ on CNN-IBN, talking about Alaipayuthey, this is what Mani Ratnam said,

“To me, that’s where a love story starts. After hard facts of life of having to get up every morning, not just when you are trying to impress somebody, where you can be on your best behaviour, when you can charming, when you can be intelligent.

The relationship grows when it is faced with reality, when it is started…the milkman coming in, I mean, that’s where the real relationship starts.”

Hearing these lines, I started thinking about how not just in Alaipayuthey, but also in many of his movies, Mani Ratnam has portrayed the ups and downs in the relationship between a husband and a wife. His lead pair, in most of the films, has always been a married couple and not just lovers. His lead pair gets married in the course of the movie and he has always shown an equal share of romance as well as the complexities involved in the relationship.
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It’s Raavan everywhere!

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Newspapers, magazines, websites, Abhishek Bachchan’s tweets, mail forwards, posters on newspapers and on the walls, trailers on all the Hindi and Tamil channels! After more than a couple of years of rumours initially about Mani Ratnam’s next film Lajjo that were doing the rounds in all the newspapers and websites and then the endless news about what next Mani Ratnam’s movie was all about, the initial names for the Hindi and Tamil versions – Raavan and Ashokavanam, the cast & crew, the problem with forest officials, rumours about the climax, etc., etc., interviews with the cast & crew & the director himself and not to mention all those non-informative news items which seemed to have been published just for filling up the space, the day of the release of the movie is just a couple of days away!

Having watched the last two movies of Mani Ratnam on the day of the release itself, I hope that I get to watch this too on the first day. Can’t wait to see Mani Ratnam delve deep into the numerous minds of Beera! My plan, as of now, is to watch Raavan first and then Raavanan. What about you?

Mani Matters

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Did you watch the programme ‘Mani Matters’ on CNN-IBN this weekend? Watching not just what was a quick recap of almost all the movies of Mani Ratnam till date, with the actors and other crew members talking about their experience of working with Mani Ratnam, but hearing the man himself speak about most of his movies has only doubled up my excitement and made the wait for the release of Raavan seem even longer! The show itself was a very good one, besides it isn’t often that you get to watch Mani Ratnam speak about his movies. Seeing clippings from so many movies of his at a stretch made me wish I could watch it all once again. In case you haven’t watched the show yet, do watch it here. Also, do check out another very good interview with Mani Ratnam here.

Hi!

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I never thought that my blog will ever reach the state in which it is now. Somehow, for the last several weeks, I have been caught up in a pretty hectic routine in which my blog doesn’t figure at all! Thought I will at least say a quick Hi to you all even though I don’t feel like writing anything. Neither the songs of Raavan nor a few other songs to which I am addicted big time nor the architectural beauty of the temples at Thirumalai Vaiyyavur, Siruvapuri and Pancheshti which I recently visited, seem to give me the much needed motivation to write something here.

P.S.: Call it showing off or sharing my happiness with you or whatever you want to, did you see that T.M.Krishna has linked my post in his website? 🙂 I am so happy!

Music Matters

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Music Matters – That was the name given to the chat between Nirmala Lakshman, joint editor of ‘The Hindu’ & T.M.Krishna was held on April 29th at Full Circle, Chamiers. This was organized by ‘The Hindu’. Here are some of the topics that were covered in the programme.
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The note on the website

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Now when everybody is talking about the director’s note on the website of Raavan, let’s revisit the note that was there on the website of Alaipayuthey. Check it out here in the archived website of Alaipayuthey. Follow the links below to read the notes on Karthik’s and Sakthi’s worlds too.

P.S.: To all those who got bored of this mini-series on Alaipayuthey, I’ll try to come up with posts on other topics soon!

MSG on Nada Neerajanam

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On 20th April live telecast on TTD’s TV channel (SVBC)

M.S.Gopalakrishnan, Dr. Narmadha & Suresh – Violin
B.Ganapathyraman – Mridangam

Concert Duration: 1.5 hrs

1. Maha Ganapatim – Nattai – Swarams at Maha Ganapatim
2. Terateeyagara ra – Gowlipantu
3. Sakalagraha – Atana – Alapana by Narmadha
4. Sitamma – Vasanta – Alapana by Suresh
5. Venkatashaila – Hamir Kalyani – Alapana by MSG – tani Avartanam
6. Sriman Narayana – Bowli
7. Yare rangana – Hindolam – Alapana by Narmadha

Finally there is a TV channel which shows a Carnatic music concert everyday. 🙂 And that too live concerts.

It has been quite a long time since I went to MSG’s concerts and I was happy to see this concert being telecast. Though just for 1.5 hrs, this concert was an absolutely satisfying one! I liked the selection of ragas. The short Atana alapana that Narmadha played was one of the loveliest Atanas I have ever listened to! That and the Hamir Kalyani alapana by MSG, though only for a few minutes, were the best parts of the concert to me.

It’s raining!

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My sister and I are video chatting now, excitedly discussing about Mani Ratnam’s movies, when she tells me that somebody’s status message says ‘It’s raining in Chennai’. I was so engrossed in talking about Mani’s movies that I didn’t even know that it’s raining here! Stepping out of the room, the maNN vaasanai greeted me. How blissful rains in the midst of scorching summer is!

Raavan Theatrical Trailer

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Isn’t this newly released trailer intriguing? Don’t the sun rays filtered through the trees in the shot where Abhishek & Aishwarya are going on a boat look surreal? The music at 0:24 in this trailer reminds me of the BGM in Roja for the scenes featuring the terrorists. As I read the line ‘The bond between the hunter and the hunted – between the captor and the captive’ in the ‘Director’s note’ in the website of Raavan, I immediately started thinking about how Mani Ratnam has already shown a bond between the captor and the captive in Roja too. Anyway, the trailers are making the wait for the movie release seem longer by the day!