Film fests are an opportunity to see different kinds of films that you usually don't get to watch. When I'm part of a jury, then I get to judge films, but otherwise I attend festivals to watch two or three films a day and network with a gathering of cinema lovers from all over.
— Mani Ratnam
The fact that technology has developed so much gives you the liberty to tell the stories, which were difficult to say earlier. It allows you to tell it more convincingly, more elaborately and more beautifully.
It doesn't matter which genre you're working in, you try to find an honest relationship within that space, and say if it's the romance genre, within that you have to find a story and characters that resonate with an audience.
Within the mainstream cinema, I feel you can experiment and make sensible films. It's possible to tell a story with characters and emotions which are real, genuine, and which need not be over the top.
I always look for genuineness. If I feel I can connect with the audience, I will try to develop it. For example, the genesis of 'Kannathil Muthamittal' was an article published in a magazine.
I have only one simple ambition when I make a film. That it should be the best I have made so far. With 'Kadal' it was no different.
The idea of 'Roja' was with me for seven years before I made it.
When I am making a film, it's very instinctive, it's not preset.
When I did my first film, I didn't have formal training; I didn't work under any director. I really didn't know how to make a film.
Films will break barriers - and good films will travel all over India.
Sometimes in a large family, you get taken to a movie and there just isn't enough space or not enough tickets and you get left out. Those are the movies you remember because you never got to see them!
I want to make a film that can reach as many as possible so I want to talk in a language which I can easily communicate with.
I work with actors who fit the bill. I have worked with Abhishek in 'Yuva,' 'Guru' and 'Raavan' because he was the perfect choice.
You can't say there is only one way of doing things, the police way of ensuring law and order.
I am a big fan of sleek action films.
A director is a very selfish person. For him, his film is like his baby.
Language, I think, has nothing to do with film-making. It is how you make your point and whether you exploit the visual medium maintaining a certain standard that does the trick.
Any good film you see gives you enough motivation and adrenaline rush to produce good content, while a bad film can get you so angry that you produce even better content.
Art is something in which you are never an expert at any point of time. It's something you hone all the time and something which is elusive all the time.
Whatever film you do, even if it's a children's film, you do with the same amount of sincerity.
When Kamal Haasan did 'Nayakan,' he had done a few roles that had him aged and demanded a lot of commitment from. He was already a veteran and a master.
Sometimes, I think filmmakers grab too much from real life.
Unfortunately scripts don't chase me. I chase them. I struggle, battle, discard, pick it back, struggle further, plead with it, curse it, cajole and try to be clever. But it is invariably the script that rules.
Sometimes casting falls in place easily and sometimes it takes a while. Fifty per cent of my job is done when I get the right actors.
I don't watch my old films like 'Roja,' 'Dil Se' because I only see mistakes. I see five minutes of the film and I am scared I will start finding mistakes in them.
My job as a director is to communicate, and I want to communicate to all.
Indian cinema will continue to grow, I am very sure.
As the soul of the film it has to work for you otherwise you don't take it up at all. It takes two years of your life, you better be interested in it. When you know it's something you can do well, that's when you take it up.
I am not worried about people's expectations. I just want to get the film right.
I am more comfortable with Tamil than Hindi.
I wish I had gone to a film school.
A written word gets preserved in so many forms. But movies which comprise of both audio and visuals have to be done with care and a lot more details.
Education is so important.
Each success gives me the adrenaline to move to another film.
Every film you see at a festival teaches you something.
It is usually the setting that decides whether a movie can be made in two languages. If the subject is rooted up North, then I make it in Hindi. But if the subject is common, then I am open to making the movie in multiple languages.
For a filmmaker, whether the film is liked, understood or appreciated counts as much as the moolah.
If you look at any film fest, the setting gives it colour. Be it Goa, Cannes or even Berlin in the winter, the setting makes these festivals special and gives it a definition.
I don't know why my leading men have grey shades. Maybe I am trying to explore that side of me through them.
When I did my first film, I had a fair idea of what I liked and what I didn't while watching an actor in front of the camera. After I finished the film, I thought I had exhausted everything I knew. As I moved from one story, setting and character to another, I discovered something new.
Bilingual films come with a certain inbuilt practical problem with respect to the setting of the story and the dialect.
As a filmmaker, every tool you get to tell the scene better is important.
My films are as much for the people as they are for me. The reception affects me, but doesn't change me as a person. That's important.
Roja,' 'Bombay' and 'Dil Se' weren't planned as political films. It was a phase India was going through and these things affected me and found their way into my work.
If you take 'Agni Natchathiram,' it is about two half-brothers and their emotions and those are genuine, which can be made into a very hard-hitting film just that it can be presented in an entertaining fashion. Similarly with 'OK Kanmani,' it is a genuine film; it is not a flippant film just for commercial purposes.
Before the release of any film, I feel like a beginner.
In school I was sidelined by Tamil language teachers. But in the film industry, I got interested in Tamil poetry after reading and working with the Vairamuthu.
I used to wonder how anyone could treat a fellow human as God. I never understood why they would do this.
At the end of the day, all I want is that my films should do well.
What is film-making about if not romance?
