Mani Ratnam shoots in Ooty!

47 days after getting a heart attack and being hospitalized, Mani Ratnam is up and shooting for his magnum opus Raavan in Ooty.

Mani sir in fact spent his birthday (June 2) quietly in the cool climes of Ooty, doing what he likes best, directing a film!

A new schedule of the film has started from June 1, in and around the hill stations and surrounding forest areas. Mani has a doctor on call at the location, and everybody is careful that the ace director does not exert himself unnecessarily.

On the first day, he shot the Tamil version with Karthik and others. Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Prithviraj are expected to join the unit in the next few days. Santosh Sivan, who replaced Manikandan as the cameraman will be givingRaavan a new look. Mani and Santosh are one of the finest director- cameraman team who has made Ooty popular among film makers and the audiences.

Their romance with Ooty started with that spectacular dream song inDalapathy featuring Rajinikanth dressed as a Samurai warrior and singing out to his lady love Shobhana- Sundari Kannal …, in the voice of SPB and S.Janaki to the mesmerizing music of Ilayaraja.

Those days there was no DI (Digital Imaging) , still Santosh and Mani gave Ooty an orange hue and it looked like it was shot in a European country.

The soft romance between Mohanlal and Aishwarya Rai in Iruvar was also filmed in Ooty. Who can forget the duo’s greatest song, Chaiya, Chaiya…, tuned by the master A.R Rahman picturised atop a running train on Shahrukh Khan and Malaika Arora?

The song was superbly choreographed by Farah Khan, and many feel it was a great tribute to Nilgiri’s mountain rail, and easily one of the best song picturisation in Indian commercial cinema.

Now the master and his favourite cameraman are back in Ooty to give it a all new look.

Courtesy: sify.com