Films of Mani Ratnam

[KlamRoyA]

My top list of Mani sir movies...Difficult to list in rating order.. i have rated according to my personal impact...

1. Alai payuthe

Reason :

The reason of being 1st is simple. If u take any tamil romantic movies from 1930 to till now, do u think any movies can come close to AP..
U can ask wt abt mounaraagam… tats only part (karthik-20 mins.) of the movie.. Otherwise both AP nd Mounaraagam wil be the same rank..

2. Iruvar

Reason :

Actually I don’t hav interest in political movies… This is the first movie I impressed a lot.. Wt a dialogues nd the same delivered by Prakash raj..
The kavithai delivered by Prakashraj
"unnodu naan vaazhtha ovvoru manithuliyum…marakka mudiyathu kanmaniye"
nd the climax 10 min. dialogue is best of the decade..


3. Geethanjali

Reason :

First romantic movie which made me cry a lot.. Best supported by Raja sir songs..


4. Thalabathi:

Reason :

So many times I told the reasons…

Most of the scenes r best of the decade one...
One of the scene..
While rajini, srividya & jaishankar r praying in temple, train crossed wit sound nd rajni & srividya seeing the train nd both eyes filled up wit tears...
No dialogues.. no single word.. but most emotional scene...tats mani .. Whenever am seeing tis scene my eyes become wet..

"Chinna thaayaval"- One of top 3 of amma songs..

another one is, when sridevi comes to rajni house nd rajni is crying wit emotional on her lap... best one..

http://www.mayyam.com/talk/showthrea...l=1#post884117

5. Mounaraagam

Reason :

Close to Alaipayuthe.. Both the plot of AP nd Mounaraagam is same..However I luv AP more than Mounaraagam..

6. Nayagan

Reason :

Close to Thalabathi.. Bt thalaivar acting is far better than kamal in naayagan…

7. Roja & Bombay

Reason :

The plot of both movies r the same.. Bt I lik Roja than Bombay..
The beauty of the Roja movie is without the first half (Madhubala nd Arvind fight due to her sister marriage cancelled nd Arvind telling the reason, y he selected her..), the second half wont make impact on u…
The reason is told in first half hw much Madhu is loving arvind, so v too getting worrying moments along wit Madhu when she is chasing the location of Arvind…
If the luv story (first half) is nt there, then the scene of madhu searching wont make impact on u.. Tats mani sir magic…

8. Anjali

Reason :

One nd only Baby Shamili…

9. Kannathil muthamittal:

Reason :

The narration of story betn a mother nd her child..

10. Guru

Reason :

No other movie did tell a real businessman story in tis effective manner..

Other movies lik Thiruda thiruda, Agni natchathiram, Dil se , Aayutha Ezhuthu & Raavan r ok type one...

Idhayakoil--- I dint c yet..

i can write reviews for all the movies in detail.. bt lazy ya irukku..
Ethanai paer vanthalum mani mani thaan.. No one can substitute him..
Frndship, Sentiment,action,mass,class,etc., .. ellam category yelum mani sir nalla pannirapparu...

[aceqoxim]

It's very difficult to find another character that has been etched with so much charm and grace as Karthik's character in Mounaragam. Antha oru reasonkagga MR is my favourite MR movie.

[KlamRoyA]

// only Alaipayuthe Madhavan is possible to karthick's charm...

[jaiganes]

ThaLAbadhi - underrated, flawed - but still a gem.
It is not easy for any director to direct a Rajini film with equal footage for another hero and pull it off as a "Director's movie". Among the very few directors who have done this Mani Ratnam stands on his own. The movie is special to me because it opened up a lot of consciousness about some technical elements as well as BeeGeeEm. However it is too simplistic to leave the movie by mentioning just this much - because this is a movie where one got to see the screen light up with visuals and sound that gave full meaning to the word "action drama".
The movie set a trend from conception to theatre release thanks to Late G.Venkateshwaran. The first thing to capture the attention of the viewer was the title design. Hitherto an area paid scant respect to - GV and Mani changed the game by indulging "karisal" raaja to come up with a innovative title design - A blood splattered graffiti - that hinted at the violence in the content - It was so striking that I wasted entire back sections of many notebooks trying to write it exactly as seen on posters. A Friend of mine went some steps ahead and did it in water colours bringing to life the exact same "splatter effect".
If someone had been a staunch rajini hater - even that individual was forced to go watch it in theater after seeing the spectacular - yet lilting love ballad "Sundari". Thus I went in to the dark hall of Sri Brinda Theater in Perambur to watch my favourite stars and star director create magic on celluloid. There was a tinge of suspicion on Mani after seeing the climax of Anjali - some of my friends were vehment in labeling Mani a "morbid film maker" who would give a lease of life to cancer patients and heart patients (In Idhayaththai thirudaadhe) but deny the same to poor little angel Anjali. So as a Rajini fan I went in with prayers and hope that Mani does not do that to my leading man - super star - though the previous star he handled - ended up with a bullet to his chest (remember velu nayakar?).
Then the movie started - not with a good samaritan hero flying in to prevent a attempted rape or something like that we Rajini fans have been used to - but a young girl sending off a baby on a goods train - could hear catcalls of "Karnan padathai copy adichuttaan" by some wise a** movie goers - disregarding that the movie drew me in with all the techniques that was at its disposal.
First and foremost - santosh sivan with his sepia tinged cinematography that created a fictional town with Devarajan and Soorya ruling the roost. his camera would recreate Mani's kurosawa dream on a spectacular scale while magnifying a little jasmine bud to equally spectacular splendour.
Ilaiyaraaja - needless to say - songs or BeeGeeEm - this was Raaja's fantastic parting gift to Mani. The BGM pieces had a character of their own - be it the menacing slithering sound for Kalivaradhan or triumphant clarion call for Devaraj- Soorya friendship or the silken touch of "sundari" played in various combinations. But Chinnathaayaval's haunting flute and train sound took the cake as far as maximum effect is concerned.
Actors - Rajini - mammootty - srividya -Jaishankar- shobana in that order they responded to mani's camera angles with controlled expressions - just the right amount. It was particularly refreshing to see Rajini play a character with some complex, some guilt - yet with a lot of fire - the character we all well know as "karna" - a hero marked by gigantic failures rather than successes. Rajini gave us all the glimpse of his "johnny days" in 90s. His simple small town fighter represented a common man up against the senseless system - more a thematic reprisal of who Velu nayakar was - but none of the similarities were felt by the viewer and that rendering showed what a professional he was.
But towering above everything else was director Mani ratnam - who showed how he can give one scene to fans and one to himself - sure it irritated to see a baby faced "pilaka" Arvind swamy say "Kaththi mudichaachaa" to that wonderful monologue of Rajini beginning with "eppavaavadhu soathukku vazhi illaama kashtapatrukeengaLA" but one has to admire that guts in a director to cut his hero short when needed to - particularly if he is the avatar of "Karna" - a man who was cut and insulted all his life..
Wish to write more on this flawed masterpiece...

[KV]

arumai, jai, arumai
Mammotty and others proved how.... line vittu pOcha?

[app_engine]

Great post, jaiganes!

Wish to write more on this flawed masterpiece...

Expecting more on your next post

[SoftSword]

: padthae padthae love ho jai :

[jaiganes]

arumai, jai, arumai
Mammotty and others proved how.... line vittu pOcha?

i had typed up something in a notepad after tenali vs thalabadhi - ellaam delete aachu - so this is a quick writeup from memory minus the vitriolic repartees at tenali comparison.

[jaiganes]

Threads of ThaLabadhi:
ThaLabadhi takes the theme of mahabaratha and unearths his plot of individuals rebelling against establishment.
Establishment here refers not only to the administrative and "law-Order" machinery - but against social and familial establishments.
Like the mother - father power symbols within family - Surya finds his family - but when it asks him to forego his chosen path against his friend, he rejects.
While his lover is shown unable to break free of her father - who represents establishment at that level.
Devaraj - the don is also a symbol of 'establishment' - but when he accepts Surya as a change agent, the law & order machinery that was hitherto comfortable
with his power position becomes uncomfortable and comes down heavy - even if it means taking the help of Kalivaradhan..
The real villain is the faceless establishment that provides no accountability but demands ultimate adherence to order from the public. ThaLabadhi is Mani's attempt to insert this in the template of an 'action-drama' - It is clever because Rajini image of late 80s has been always a 'pro-establishment' do gooder - a image and mantle he borrowed from MGR and Mani - subverts to provide his 'anarchist' message into the movie..

[kid-glove]

The climax is a messed-up communion of all forces..

Imagine a subverted version where the abandoned child passes civil services and becomes the collector, while the child the mother raised becomes a second in chief to a corrupt man. I'd not make a overblown violent purgent film about it though, I'd make it more like Secrets and Lies.. Where they kiss and make up in the end. I'd call it an adaptation, why not.