During the promotions of Ponniyin Selvan 1, Mani Ratnam recalled how his first tryst with Kalki’s novel was from a guide borrowed from Gopalapuram’s Easwari Lending Library, which was a childhood favorite hang-out of mine. Having grown up patronising the long-lasting Chennai store, I start my dialog with the veteran filmmaker mentioning this.

“I was around 15 years old when I was lent a book from there. The age around when I left school, I suppose,” says Mani Ratnam who, after being within the trade for 40 years, has now provide you with his first movie sequel with Ponniyin Selvan: 2.

Excerpts from an interview:

Films are largely watched in theatres by kids, however for ‘PS: 1’ there have been hordes of households. Do you assume it’s potential to have a audience for a movie?

I don’t know if a movie may be made concentrating on a particular kind of viewers. You go to a darkish theatre, watch with the individuals round you, and all you get is the response. You’re part of that have. I don’t assume I’ve accomplished any movie protecting a selected sector in thoughts. I really feel like I’m making a movie for myself as an viewers member; I’ve simply tried to seize how I see Ponniyin Selvan.

ALSO READ: ‘Ponniyin Selvan: 1’ movie review: Epic story gets Mani Ratnam’s royal treatment

In a current press meet, you mentioned Aditha Karikalan is the fulcrum of ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ …

The full story occurs due to Karikalan; his love for Nandini, how she was separated from him, and the way she groups up with the Pandyas to take revenge. This is the story of Ponniyin Selvan. Overall, it’s the story of Karikalan and Nandini. Karikalan, in historical past, was killed. How it may have occurred is how Kalki dramatises Ponniyin Selvan.

After the announcement and the discharge of ‘PS:1,’ there was a whole lot of contemporary curiosity in Tamil tradition/literature amongst as we speak’s audiences. What do you concentrate on this?

I believe we simply wanted a set off level to create that spark. Kalki’s novel has at all times created curiosity and this movie will in all probability assist the present technology attain again. But reaching again to our roots is inborn. It’s necessary to know the place we’re from, what we now have achieved, our heritage, literature and music.

Given that Kalki’s novel is part-fact and part-fiction, did you could have the house to take the story in a unique route or did you prohibit your self to solely condensing the content material into two movies?

Those who’ve learn the novels have typically learn them a number of occasions regardless of figuring out how the story would unfold. Ponniyin Selvan isn’t just the plot but additionally the characters, their journey and the twists they encounter. Wherever we needed to make adjustments, we made them.

You have been vocal about being impressed by Maniam’s illustrations of the Chola dynasty for the movie’s look. Given that you just additionally labored with Elango Kumaravel who has staged ‘Ponniyin Selvan,’ had been there any inputs from these fronts?

If we take the earlier portrayals as a supply, we might by no means get to the basis. Temples, sculptures, motifs and work got here in helpful and the Chola interval has been documented intimately by a number of historians. When Kalki wrote the novel, the works of KA Nilakanta Sastri (the well-known historian) had been there. Over the years, in depth analysis has been accomplished and that has given us extra particulars based mostly on which we now have set the movie. Even now, it will probably’t be referred to as a precise illustration, however we now have stayed as practical as potential.

Be it ‘Thalapathi’ (which was based mostly on the friendship between Mahabharata’s Karna and Duryodhana), ‘Roja’ (Savitri and Satyavan), ‘Raavan’ (The Ramayana) or ‘Chekka Chivantha Vaanam’ (Aurangzeb’s battle for the throne), all of them are fashionable interpretations of yesteryear tales. How completely different is it do an precise historic epic?

This is the primary time I’m utterly adapting a guide and step one is deletion. We had to determine what must be omitted and what must be carried ahead. We lose sure parts on account of deletion and that must be bridged differently. The really feel, emotion and character definitions, at occasions, should be established in a single scene. In the books, lots of people speak intimately in regards to the main characters; for instance, everybody calls Kundavai a strategic diplomat and the mind behind Raja Raja Chola’s rule. But when made into a movie, this must be picturised in a fashion that makes us, the viewers, imagine that she’s able to what they are saying.

What makes us blissful is the truth that the brand new scenes we created for the movie have grow to be one with the unique story. Such integrations are many within the movie regardless of not intentionally altering the scenes for the sake of it. Unlike a novel that may be mounted on an in depth canvas, cinema is a compilation of sequences in a sure order narrated inside a timeframe. So it’s a necessity for the screenplay to verify the diversions are contained throughout the story body.

Unlike ‘PS:1,’ the sequel is anticipated to place us in the midst of the motion from the get-go, and this form of screenplay is fairly new to you. What is the therapy for this?

We wrote it and shot it as a single movie. In our nation, our movies, due to the idea of getting an interval are already cut up into two elements. The movie reaches a peak earlier than beginning one other and a sequel is simply an extension of that. Idhu oru periya, 6 maasa interval (laughs).

I believe the story will dictate how the screenplay may be set and generally, going in opposition to the grain works. Sometimes pondering outdoors the field and arising with one thing new provides a poetic high quality to it. That’s why we additionally shot the movie in a single go; aside from not making monetary sense to take a break in between, we aren’t working with a brand new story to fret in regards to the outcomes. The success of Kalki’s work and the way it is part of our on a regular basis life gave us the boldness to complete it in a single shot.

The music in ‘PS: 2’ sounds completely different from what we had in ‘PS:1.’ Musically, had been the movies handled as two separate entities?

No, we noticed it as one seamless story. But because the movie progresses, the temper adjustments and so does the music. It has to enrich and complement the temper and supply an underlying subtext. Similar to your earlier query’s reply, the music additionally must be handled in a sure method. What we expect is genuine might be the model we might’ve heard from a Forties movie. But that was a product of the creator’s creativity and never authenticity.

So we had been eager on all facets that there be a recent type to it. Be it the way in which we shot, edited, composed the music, designed the costumes and extra importantly, the language, we opted for a practical and modern take. The movie ought to make us really feel like we’re within the tenth century, in the midst of a warfare within the Chola lands. The technique wasn’t to have grand set items and indulgent sequences, however to grow to be part of it and journey alongside Vandiyadevan.

The final time we spoke with you, you mentioned that you just weren’t actually a fan of the ‘pan-India’ tag although many administrators have referred to as you India’s first pan-Indian filmmaker. What in accordance with you is a movie that matches the tag?

We’ve been doing it since Chandralekha (1948), however these movie had been by no means referred to as pan-Indian again then. We accepted our movies to be this manner way back, whereas the remainder of the north learnt to look at south Indian movies, admire, encourage and develop them a lot later. It’s simply part of our development and it’s wholesome to see a film like Kantara, in a regional language, talking a couple of regional tradition, doing effectively throughout the nation.

No one is compelling administrators or actors to make one sort of movie. If we begin doing that, it’ll make us stale quickly. Doing completely different cinema rejuvenates us. Doing pan-Indian movies just isn’t a lure… however a selection.

Speaking of being completely different each time, you could have at all times been unpredictable and have chosen completely different genres each time. But they virtually at all times have a way of Mani Ratnam-ness to them with some trademark sequences; how do you see this dichotomy?

I don’t have a look at it as dichotomy. Cinema is a language which has its personal magnificence and visible media is a device to relate a narrative. Literature can have just a few traces of poetry in between, nevertheless it’s not repetition when accomplished in different literary works too. They are used so as to add accent to a sequence. A mirror is an environment friendly story-telling device; we are able to present introspection, and even query and shock ourselves. A novel can say what’s working inside a personality’s thoughts, however in a movie, we now have to point out it, and a mirror does that effectively. Similarly, one thing that has motion or pace — be it horses or a prepare — provides rhythm, pace and motivation, aside from additionally pushing the story ahead. They are cinematic instruments similar to wind, rain and sunshine.

In a current interplay, you had been vocal about your dislike in direction of utilizing the time period ‘woods’ to indicate our movie industries…

Why ought to we name ourselves a sure ‘wood’? European cinema doesn’t name itself Englishwood or Germanwood (laughs). We shouldn’t imitate them, given how we take advantage of variety of movies. We have so many regional cinema industries that each one can come beneath the umbrella referred to as Indian cinema. It’s degrading to carry us right down to an imitation.

ALSO READ: Singer KS Chithra interview: ‘Music helped me come out of troubled times’

As a fan of Akira Kurosawa, your movies have had inspirations from his, just like the warfare sequence in ‘Thalapathi’s ‘Sundari’ track. Now that you just’ve made a movie with precise warfare sequences, can we name the ‘PS’ movies an ode to the auteur?

Yeah, I believe my love for PS is as a result of I’ve cherished Kurosawa’s work. He’s a grasp who has proven {that a} interval piece may be shot in a practical method and never in a sepia tone like a historical past movie. Intentionally or not, I learnt from his movies {that a} interval movie may be showcased as a narrative transpiring proper in entrance of our eyes amidst grime, mud and sweat. Not simply in PS, however all my movies have his affect.

From a youngsters’s movie to an epic historic movie, you’ve accomplished all of it. Is there one thing you continue to need to strive?

Of course (laughs)! If you need to do motion pictures, there’s a lot that’s potential. So many good movies are being made now. I believe it’s a very good time to make good movies.

‘Pallavi Anu Pallavi’ got here out in 1983, so this yr additionally marks your fortieth as a director by which you’re teaming up as soon as once more with Kamal Haasan. How do you see the evolution of Tamil cinema from then to now?

It doesn’t actually really feel like 40 years; it simply looks like a few years. I do know the reply goes to be clichéd, nevertheless it nonetheless looks like doing all of your first movie each time.

As far as my subsequent movie with Kamal is anxious, PS:2 is releasing on April 28 and the work for the brand new movie will start on April 29. When I begin the subsequent movie, I don’t know the way I’ll do it. Adha eppadi ezhutha porom, eppadi eduka porom, oru thought um illa.

So we’ll have to begin all the things from scratch; that’s the problem and that’s what excites me. We are on the verge of getting into an even bigger evolution with know-how altering and with the ability to shoot nearly. But beside all that, the purpose is to say a narrative with an actor who pulls it off convincingly. The evolving know-how are instruments to which we are able to adapt and so they don’t resolve the sculpture. All we’d like are good tales, actors to place them throughout and individuals who need to take heed to them. We have gotten that.

Ponniyin Selvan: 2 releases April 28 in theatres throughout India