The Master And His Various Muses (Read Awesome Locations): A Story Of Mani Ratnam And His Cities

A few days ago, Mental Manadhil’s video – from Mani Ratnam’s latest OK Kanmani starring Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen – was released and it instantly clicked with the youth. The track is composed and sung by AR Rahman and Jonita Gandhi and the buzz around OK Kanmani is extremely positive with most commenting on the vibrancy surrounding the movie and of course, the two lead pairs, who have captured the imagination of many. But what’s interesting is the fact, director Mani Ratnam after a series of duds is back and hopefully it will be back with something that we can all look forward to. Though some are calling it Alaipayuthe 2, with some in the director’s team of that opinion, OK Kanmani might bring back the director some relief.

But there’s another important thing to be noticed that the movie has been set in Mumbai. The director of Madras Talkies’ obsession with Mumbai is never ending and this is the fifth time he is using the city as his muse. But then he has not limited himself to Mumbai only, occasionally venturing into other cities, telling their stories. So let us see how he has spread his body of work across different cities.

MUMBAI/BOMBAY

Nayagan

Mani Ratnam’s first serious tryst with Mumbai was with Nayagan. There’s another angle to it as it was based on the life of Varadarajan Mudaliar, the South Indian don of Bombay. In an interview with the critic Baradwaj Rangan, Mani Ratnam said that when he was a student in Mumbai he saw the aura that underworld don Mudaliar effused and this gave him the basis of his movie. Nayagan focused on two things- South Indian immigrants in Mumbai and their problems as well as the Mumbai mafia before the start of the Dawood era. With Nayagan, Mani Ratnam became another bona fide storyteller of the city.

Bombay

Mani Ratnam’s second serious encounter with Bombay came when he tried to tell the story of the Bombay riots and tying it up with a love story between a Hindu boy and Muslim girl who comes to Bombay after getting married and starting their life. Just when they feel that their life is all set, the riots totally upturn their life. Bombay just might be Mani Ratnam’s most personal movie for he focuses on the problem of Hindu-Muslim love and marriage minutely and of course not with a commercial approach while the city of Mumbai itself becomes a witness to everything and helpless as it starts burning. The performance of Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala were widely praised.

Saathiya

Saathiya was a remake of Mani Ratnam’s Alaipayuthey directed by his protégé Shaad Ali and here we see the transfer of the tale from Chennai to Mumbai but with the same background. But what worked was the inclusion of the city of Mumbai once again conspiring to bring the love birds i.e. Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukherjee together. Shaad Ali did well, getting his mentor’s style correct and Saathiya became a success at the box office. Remakes often lose steam when compared to the original but Saathiya was something that Mani Ratnam could be proud of. And yes he produced the movie.

Guru

Mani Ratnam’s fascination was never-ending and this time he tried to create another biopic with Dhirubhai Ambani as his model. Guru focused on the rise of this mercurial figure with once again Bombay/Mumbai as the secondary character playing along skillfully helping deconstruct Guru’s character. With Guru, Mani Ratnam also tries to uncover another facet of the city, the cutthroat business world where the businessmen are as ruthless as the gangsters from Nayagan. Many consider Guru to be Abhishek Bachchan’s finest role in his career.

OK Kanmani

Mani Ratnam’s OK Kanmani is like coming to a full circle with many of the opinion is that it is going to be Alaipayuthey 2 and as the first teasers of the trailer and the song Mental Manadhil shows it might be even more breezy and sleek than the original. Well we can’t be sure but then again it’s not bad to hope right? And the lead pair of Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen just looks the part. Let’s hope this time we get a winner from Mani Ratnam and once again the setting of Mumbai is back to help him. So maybe sometime in the near future we can deduce that Mani Ratnam is going to have a city romance trilogy where Alaipayuthey, OK Kanmani and maybe another movie that he might direct forming it.

DELHI

Dil Se

With Dil Se Mani Ratnam covered a lot of ground and shifted his focus from Mumbai for a while to the north-eastern states of India and Delhi. Starring Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala with Preity Zinta making her debut, this complex tale of love and terrorism was not appreciated by the audience and critics alike but still, one has to give it to him for he did try and chart those unknown territories of North-eastern states and the politics of Delhi. But somehow in this entire hullabaloo, Ratnam’s attempt to capture both the places failed but yet it was a decent attempt.

CHENNAI/MADRAS

Alaipayuthey

Now it will be wrong to not include Chennai in this list and it was Alaipayuthey where we see a very different Chennai for the youthful romance, the charming chemistry between Madhavan and Shalini as well as Mani Ratnam’s own enthusiasm gave one of the most brilliant love stories in the Indian film industry. What was worth watching was that how the city of Chennai itself became an agent helping the love of Madhavan and Shalini progress, becoming a character itself. Trains are often synonymous with the city of Mumbai but here Mani Ratnam tries to bring in that factor with the romance between the two characters blossoming in the train as it travels the city while the city cares for them.

CALCUTTA

Yuva

Yuva brings Mani Ratnam to another city and this time it is Calcutta. A Hindi version of his Aaytha Ezhuthu, once again he tells the story of three different protagonists from three different strata of the society with Calcutta as the backdrop. The political upheaval, the flawed vision of today’s youth, problems of poverty, exploitation and other urban problems, everything found a place in this tale. All the actors mainly Abhishek Bachchan won accolades for his performance in this brutal tale of a city which was unforgiving and unflinching. The city of Calcutta becomes witness to the ideologies of three different youths and their dreams and aspirations.

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