In the interests of full disclosure, I must state upfront that I have interviewed both Baradwaj Rangan and Mani Ratnam for my forthcoming biography of Rajnikanth, that is also being published by the same company as the book under review.
Rangan says in his beautifully rendered introduction that he belongs to the generation that came of age with the films of Mani Ratnam. I too belong to the same generation, and have also grown up with his films and remain a faithful follower of his work, though I may not like some of it. Since I first became aware of Rangan바카라s writings on cinema, I have followed it with the same zeal with which I follow Ratnam바카라s work. In my considered opinion, he is one of a handful of people writing on cinema in India who can lay claim to the exalted position of 바카라film critic바카라, as opposed to a mere reviewer, given that he not just expresses his opinion, but also provides a detailed analysis of a film, even if the work in question is so much dross.
Conversations with Mani Ratnam is one of the finest books on Indian cinema ever. It follows the Q&A format employed in Hitchcock: A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut and Conversations with Scorsese by Richard Schickel and can take its rightful place alongside those paragons of the genre. Ratnam has the reputation of being an introvert, but that바카라s mainly because he does not suffer fools gladly. Ask him a stupid question and he바카라ll give you a brief stock answer, thus cementing this reputation. Rangan바카라s questions are anything but that. He starts off by treading the water lightly and circles around Ratnam by asking some general questions. The questions make for as much delightful reading as Ratnam바카라s answers, given that they are incredibly informed and analytical. When Rangan dives in and throws in the occasional bouncer, Ratnam is more than equal to the challenge, choosing either to dead bat it or knock it out of the park. Too many reviews of this book have reproduced some of these delicious exchanges and I바카라m not going to spoil your reading pleasure by reproducing them here. The book does demand a fair knowledge of Ratnam바카라s work. On the other hand, for the uninitiated, it바카라s a great starting point for Ratnam바카라s brand of cinema.
For my main quibble with the book, I바카라ll need to recount an incident. I first interviewed Ratnam during the brouhaha surrounding the release of Bombay in 1995. Being a stripling barely out of college, I was completely in awe of the man. Using a technique similar to what Rangan employs in this book, I set up the man with a few informed questions about his body of work and about the film. Once I had enough material to file a piece, I slipped in the question that could have had me thrown out of the room. My question was whether after the national success of Roja, Ratnam had chosen the potentially incendiary theme of Bombay to cash in on ongoing national issues and milk them for cinema. There was a long pause and then Ratnam looked at me reprovingly and said: 바카라I바카라m pained.바카라 He then provided a very convincing explanation on why exactly he made Bombay. I included that long pause and Ratnam바카라s look in the piece that I eventually filed. Rangan chooses to erase every bit of incidental emotion (like 바카라laughs바카라 and 바카라frowns바카라) from his transcription. While this is done with the noble intention of letting the reader being his or her own judge of Ratnam바카라s answers, it robs the replies of feeling. It바카라s like the musical cues in Ratnam바카라s films that Rangan quizzes him about in the book being removed from the final cut of the film, thereby rendering it artsy. Ratnam is a self-professed commercial director and this aspect of a book about him could have been commercial as well. And, though the titles of Ratnam바카라s own films have been translated in English, I wish the titles of some of the south Indian films referred to could have been translated as well. Many readers would surely want to know what Pattanathil Bootham means. These are minor issues in what is a masterly portrayal of a filmmaker바카라s work and processes. Now, if you바카라ll excuse me, I바카라m going to dust off my Mani Ratnam DVD collection and watch them all over again, using Rangan바카라s excellent book as a primer.
(Naman Ramachandran바카라s biography of Rajnikanth is out in December)
