Clik here to view.
New York, August 2nd, 2015 – Screening of Dil Se (1998) followed by a discussion with director Mani Ratnam and Richard Peña and a reception sponsored by Brick Lane Curry House. www.thanassikarageorgiou.com
For Tamils in particular and film buffs across America, last weekend turned out to be a bonanza. They got to see famous director Mani Ratnam, who rarely makes public appearances, watch his trilogy, and talk to him face-to-face about how he made them, all at the Museum of Moving Images in Astoria, Queens. The program was such a success that MoMI plans to hold many more Indian film events in the future.
Ratnam was brought here at the initiative of Christina Marouda, MoMI’s director of development and founder of the Film Festival of India in Los Angeles 13 years ago. The museum in New York said it wanted to pay a special tribute to Ratnam, 60, with three films sometimes called the “Terrorism Trilogy,” lovers tales against a backdrop of political violence – “Roja” (1992), “Bombay” (1995), and “Dil Se” (1998)—the last featuring one of the most famous scenes in all of Indian cinema, the “Chaiyya Chaiyya” musical number on top of a moving train. The series, Politics as Spectacle: The Films of Mani Ratnam, ran to packed houses all three days and was kicked off with a press event July 29 at the Indian Consulate.
Three hundred people came each day to watch the screenings which were followed by a discussion moderated by Richard Pena, director emeritus, New York Film Festival and Professor of Film Studies at Columbia University. The floor then opened up for questions from the audience for Ratnam and his wife, a film maker in her own right, Suhasini Maniratnam. These interactions lasted at least 45 minutes.
“Roja,” starring Arvind Swamy and Madhoo is about young computer engineer Rishi, marrying Roja, his unintended spouse, who gets to know him as a truly good man and moves heaven and earth to get him freed when he is kidnapped by separatists during their vacation in Kashmir; “Bombay” starring Swamy and Manisha Koirala, is a heartfelt cry against the communal violence personalized through a young Hindu and Muslim couple in the wake of the deadly riots following the destruction of the Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodhya; and “Dil Se” features Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala places a romance in the midst of separatist politics and terrorism.
“Tamils came from here, and New Jersey, and some flew in from different parts of the country, San Francisco, North Carolina …” Marouda added. The films “Roja” and “Bombay” were in Tamil.
“The most important thing was that we succeeded in bringing new audiences,” she said. The event was also special because Ratnam rarely makes public appearances and rarely comes to the U.S., she noted. Ratnam and Maniratnam participated in all 3 screenings. “It was a very special weekend and he was very engaged and very humble,” Marouda said.
The last film screening of “Dil Se” was followed by a reception at MoMI where numerous New York artists gave a performance they put together based on music from Ratnam’s films. Ten musicians and 5 singers did it in 3 acts. “He (Ratnam) was really touched,” Marouda recalled.
“Because of the success, MoMI plans to present many more Indian films in New York,” she said. She described Ratnam as “a treasure” whose special tribute offered audiences, both devoted fans and new viewers, “a rare opportunity to see his gorgeous films” on the big screen.
Filmcomment.com best described Ratnam’s work. “Instead, using the tools of popular cinema, Ratnam takes all the conventions of the Indian masala—lavish musical numbers that erupt at the drop of a grenade, boy-meets-girl love stories, romantic montages set to power ballads, joyous weddings, kindly grandmas, stern but loving fathers, a bit of action—and forges them into vibrant motion-picture spectacles that raise more questions than they answer, and tend to leave audiences in a stunned hush.”
At MoMI, audiences could then engage Ratnam on how he accomplishes this feat.
In a preview release, Pena said the tribute was long overdue.“The false dichotomies that are used to categorize films—art vs. commercial cinema, entertainment vs. political filmmaking—disappear when one sees how easily Mani Ratnam is able to combine aspects of all of them into his work,” Pena is quoted saying.
The three films in this series are also notable for featuring the music of A.R. Rahman, who made his debut as a film composer on Roja, which in effect, jumpstarted his meteoric rise as a major movie composer. Time magazine film critics Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss listed “Roja” as among the “Ten Best Soundtracks”of all time in 2005.
Ratnam is credited with revolutionizing Tamil-language cinema, quitting a traditional career in business management for the celluloid world. His father was noted film distributor Ratnam Iyer. His first film Pallavi Anu Pallavi, in 1983 fared poorly in the box office but was the stepping stone to offers to do new projects. His 1986 Mouna Ragam, an intimate look at the first difficult months of a newly-wed couple, was a departure for the norm. Nayakan (1987), his take on Hollywood blockbuster The Godfather, was a big hit in India garnering 3 film awards, and setting his future trajectory.
The post Blending Spectacle and Message, Mani Ratnam Captivates Fans appeared first on News India Times.