Tamil cinema's most lauded and creative director, Mani Ratnam is getting ready to start his new film. The buzz is that Mani Ratnam is going back to his roots and making a film that will have a Tamil milieu and flavour with new stars and technicians on a big budget. Mani Ratnam, the marketing wizard, is looking at his first straight Tamil film in nearly a decade. Rumours are there that yesteryear romantic hero Karthik's son will debut as hero with the film.
Mani sir's last straight Tamil film was Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), which had a local flavour and nativity about it. Since then he has been only making bi-lingual in Hindi and Tamil – Yuva (Aayutha Ezhuthu), Guru (Guru), and Raavan (Raavanan).
Says a former assistant of Mani Ratnam: "The idea of making bi lingual’s worked commercially for Mani sir and his Madras Talkies. But these fusion movies were neither sincere to north or his core south Indian audiences. As a filmmaker he fell between two stools". As a Mumbai based trade analyst said: “Early Mani Ratnam movies like Roja and Bombay were dubbed into Hindi, which worked at the box-office. Then he started making bi-lingual`s with certain actors in crucial roles being changed in both versions, which did not work to his advantage.He needs to continue doing good films in Tamil. But his urge to reach out to National audiences has been his waterloo. Yuva and Guru were redeeming in many levels, but the death knell was sounded by Raavan".
The grapevine has it that AR Rahman , Mani Ratnam's regular music director will be part of the project which many say will be a love story. However, he will be having a new cameraman and art director. Mani is moving away from his regulars like Samir Chanda and Sabu Cyril to Telugu set designer Ravinder who was responsible for the art work of Maghadheera and Mariyadai Raman. Recently Mani sir was location hunting in Thiruvananthapuram. Kerala still remains the director's favourite location. Mani sir and his trusted assistants spent a week shuttling between Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercovil in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu in an old Ambassador Tourist taxi.
They have identified quite a few beautiful coastal virgin locations between Pozhikara, a fishing village in Kanyakumari and Vizhinjam near Kovalam in Kerala. In all probability, Mani Ratnam's first Tamil film in a decade will start rolling by September, when the rain subsides in coastal areas.
