Mani Ratnam right from his debut movie in Kannada with Anil Kapoor has been a pioneering personality in his direction, stories and as a visual storyteller. A visionary who firmly realised his style of filmmaking and made a drastic change in the way audiences perceived cinema and the themes it can produce just by the correct frames and apt narration is nothing less than legendary. This certainty and clarity comes naturally and even reflected the same way in his creations right from simplifying the complexity of love in movies like Mouna Ragam, Gitanjali, Alaipayuthey or in strongly taking a stand of contemporary political dilemmas or societal distinctions in Bombay, Nayakan and even taking it a tone further and discussing the issues of terrorism in Roja, Kannathil Muthamittal and Uyire, Mani Ratnam has done it all and effectively so.
The way he moulds and creates layers of themes that are deeper on the surface level, leaving the audiences to introspect it themselves and take the emotions with them even after years can only be achieved by few. Mani Ratnam as a filmmaker reaps the fruit of his hard work once every few years but delivers with something the Indian industry has never seen or hesitates to discuss. He is an experimentalist, a passive narrator whose works takes the front seat in directing the genre for the upcoming talents and filmmakers.
Themes of Mani Ratnam
The filmmaker might be known majorly for the way he portrays love and people in love who are deeply connected, not magnified or glorified yet leaves a magical dust of the idea of hopeless love in every fan. Love is a prominent theme in many of Mani Ratnam’s movies or at least used as an important vein along with the major plot.
While movies like ‘Alaipayuthey’, ‘Mouna Ragam’ have achieved a cult following for their rewatchability and how it emerges as a reflection of love in a complex light where the first one talks about love that is quick, person centric and gives away the youthness of the generation, the latter takes a deeper approach of the same. Both the stories revolve around two or three (including Manohar) people and their idea of love while both the films also vary in their narration and execution from the visual and story perspective. While Karthik and Shakthi cross the boundaries of their families and find it difficult to create a rapport in their marriage on the basis of their love, Chandra Kumar and Dhivya navigate their way inside their marriage in search of love. There is no stark contrast but a seamless shift in mentality that makes the filmmaker a genius narrator.
Love in ‘Bombay’ and ‘Roja’ stands on the balance of society centric diction, where the external factors such as religion, terrorism and larger than life aspects come into play. Even ‘Uyire’ can be categorised into the category of love beyond social constraints while the characters try and find their way together. While Bombay deals with religion and the then ongoing religious riot of 1993, the magic lies in how Mani Ratnam doesn’t allow the story to just hang on the conflict but makes it a solid part of the screenplay, connecting the audience emotionally and flicks a switch of introspection and reflect what the society is projecting. All the above is achieved with the way he sets the two main characters as soulmates irrespective of their religion and how they make a life for themselves. ‘Roja’ and ‘Uyire’ also balance love and political aspects that are actively life threatening, a beat higher than ‘Bombay’. In comparison both the movies deal with the same kind of yearning for love yet again the director wrote the conflicts based on the audience’s mentality while never compromising the story or the message. While both the climax showcases two soulmates finally uniting, one falls as a tragedy while other soothes the hearts.
‘Nayakan’, a global sensation and often marked as Mani Ratnam’s best of works, the movie tells the gripping story loosely based on a real life personality and a style adapted from another world famous crime drama, ‘The Godfather’. Although set in a similar plane of thought, ‘Thalapathi’ is based on mythological adaptation narrated for the present day audience with similar characters who take the law into their own hands and provide justice when needed. In the slate of mythology Ravanan also joins the group just leaning towards rewriting the epics from a different perspective.
Visual spectacle – a thread
Mani Ratnam has collaborated with some of the best cinematographers in India who in collision with the genius creates magical and spectacular frames, scenes and simply makes the audience look at the characters in a different light. There are certain signature frames and scenes that are seen in several movies that are now almost expected in his films.
Mirror frames #ManiRatnam #HappyBirthdayManiRatnam #HBDManiRatnam pic.twitter.com/L2688KrrNu
— G!R! Яamki (@giri_prasadh_r) June 2, 2020
Source: giri_prasadh_r (X)Mirrors reflecting emotions are a recurring aspect in Mani Ratnam’s films, especially in conjuring the emotions of two people in love, somehow translating the same emotions to the audiences. The way he frames two people and gently lets the audience into an intimate moment, revealing a key emotion for the audience to relish. The scenes are not fleeting for the fans to find out as an easter egg but is woven carefully as a revelation, seen in movies like Iruvar, Oh Kadhal Kanmani, Alaipayuthey, Kannathil Muthamittal and a few others.
Iconic Bus Scenes of Maniratnam
byu/Fishyraven inkollywood
Source: Fishyraven (Reddit)Bus and Trains as a way of conveying the flow and dynamic of a sequence that is seen in the cases of Manohar chasing Dhivya for a coffee date or even seen when Chithra convincing Varadharajan in Chekka Chivantha Vanam. From the wise words of Mani Ratnam himself, “The thing with buses and trains is that they move. They make a scene non- static” as he said in a public interaction.
Rain brings and breaks in all the stagnant emotions, especially at a crucial point. Not necessarily and solely seen in Mani Ratnam movies but a certain litany seen in Kannathil Muthamittal when Amudha meets her birth mother, further twisting our hearts or in Nayakan or Mouna Ragam, the certainty of it leading to people emoting and receiving the conveyed feeling is what makes the utility of rain important.
Strong characters, stronger females
One thing that is assured throughout his filmography is that the characters are multi-layered, if not always the female lead will be leading the show, taking a stand for herself and in turn resonating a message. From Roja fighting alone for her husband to return from the grips of terrorists, Dhivya in Mouna Ragam moving on and accepting goodness after a tragedy, Shyama and Indra both echoing maternal love and strong characters in accepting life as it is, Tara breaking her own inner walls and pursuing career and marriage is all the reasons to believe that Mani Ratnam is the front runner of giving the baton to women.
The perspective shift in his supportive characters or even the negative characters changes the way people see the movie. Where Nandini from Ponniyin Selvan stands as a selfish, vengeful, power hungry villain is revealed to be rooted from her unrequited love and family yearning. Where the mythological Karna and Dhuryodhana’s friendship is shown under a different light even diving further into the unreturned love between Karna and Draupadi, Mani Ratnam’s genius shines again.
