Sneak peak on Mani Ratnam’s next….

India’s ace director Mani Ratnam is gearing up for his next project and the industry is abuzz with a variety of colorful speculations. It is being said that the project will be a bilingual to be made in Hindi and Tamil. Aishwarya Rai will be the screen partner for the heroes in both the languages. Prithviraj and Priya Mani also are reported to be in pivotal casts.

An interesting fact about this project is that Karthik who made everyone sit up and notice his performance, albeit a small one, in Mani Ratnam’s Mouna Ragam would be making a comeback as a villain. In fact Karthik’s role in Mouna Ragam is considered as a benchmark even now for guest appearances and the actor brought in a fresh lease of life in the short but intense role and made a memorable impact on the audience.
As regards off screen cast, cinematographer P C Sriram was to handle the camera for this project but due to prior commitments, he is said to have opted out of the project and in his place comes Manikandan who has worked in prestigious projects like Anniyan in Tamil and Om Shanthi Om and Main Hoon Na in Hindi. When a question was raised about the main plot of the film, it was understood that it would be based on the story of the epic Ramayana. Readers may recall that Mani Ratnam had earlier made Thalapathy drawing inspiration from Mahabharata.


Courtesy: behindwoods.com

Mani Ratnam hands over script

Many speculations have been doing its round regarding the next project of India’s numero uno director Mani Ratnam. After his last film Guru in 2007, Mani will now be doing a bilingual in Tamil and Hindi where Vikram and Abhishek Bachchan will be doing lead roles in their respective languages. Aishwarya Rai will be their co-star.


For this untitled venture, Mani’s favorite cinematographer P C Sreeram will be wielding the camera. Sreeram who had worked with the ace director in many films like Nayagan, Thiruda Thiruda will be teaming up with him after their last venture Alaipayuthey in the year 2000. P C Sreeram had given new dimension to Mani Ratnam’s screen play and his choice of camera angles to convey the mood of the scene was a trendsetter for many films. It has been reported that Mani has given the first part of the script to the cinematographer. Official announcement regarding other details about the film is expected soon.

Courtesy: behindwoods.com

Mani Ratnam shifts

Director Mani Ratnam has finally decided to make a move! The ace director will soon be shifting his residence from Alwarpet to Boat Club. Mani Ratnam has already purchased a bungalow worth Rs. 15 crores in that area. His forthcoming project with Vikram and Ashwarya Rai in the lead is expected to takeoff in September.


Interestingly, Prithviraj will don the villain role. The yet-to-be-titled film will be produced by Mani Ratnam’s home production Madras Talkies. P. C. Sriram will wield the camera and A. R. Rahman has been signed up to compose music.

Courtesy: behindwoods.com

Choose: Robot or Sarvam?

The cinematography for Billa by Nirav Shah so impressed Rajini that he wanted him to photograph Robot. Once again, Rajini was unerringly right: Nirav, who had virtually reinvented the way Tamil cinema could look in Billa, was the obvious choice. Nirav, of course, must have been thrilled and flattered. But there was a catch: he had already signed up to shoot Vishuvardhan’s next, Sarvam, starring Arya and Trisha.

The call sheets for Robot and Sarvam had coincided. Shah could have turned down Sarvam for Robot, of course, but he said he would not. Even though Robot is an epic project, involving none other than the Superstar, Shankar and A.R. Rahman, he would stay loyal to Vishnu. He and Vishnu go a long way back, he explained. They had been college friends, plus it was also Vishnu’s cinematic vision for Billa that had made their successful collaboration so talked about.


Robot’s new cinematographer is now ace cameraman Thiru. He once assisted P.C. Sriram, and now shoots for Hindi and Malayalam films. His previous work includes Hey Ram, Aalavandhan and Bhool Bhulaiyaa. His experience and expertise will surely make Robot special.

Courtesy: Behindwoods.com

Mani's next - story revealed!

Mani Ratnam’s newest film project returns to a territory he is master of: a simple, deep love story beautifully and impeccably told in the way only this maestro can. Think Alaipaiyuthey, except the couple is now negotiating married life amidst the frantic pace of modern life. Will the story also perhaps deal with how contemporary couples balance careers with marriage and family? There is something doubly interesting about this project – the stars that will play this couple are Abishek and Ash. The glittering echo between the fictional and the real couple is obvious, adding to the buzz.

It’s nice to have Mani Ratnam come back from larger than life stories like Guru to doing something more intimate, feel-good, lyrical and romantic. And where there’s Mani there’s always that other maestro, A.R.Rahman. Taking a cue from the story and theme of this yet untitled movie, the model for Rahman’s songs could well be Alaipaiyuthey. Richly lyrical romantic ballads, intoxicatingly choreographed and shot. Which brings us to the cinematographer – rumour has it that Mani is most likely going to bring his veteran cameraman in - P.C. Sriram. If you recall, P.C. and Mani together revolutionized the use of lighting and camera work in Tamil cinema once. Rumour also has it that the Big B will make a cameo. But let’s wait and see what develops – with this publicity shy director
nothing is confirmed until he confirms it.

Courtesy: Behindwoods.com