‘I WOULD WANT TO CHANGE ALL MY FILMS IF GIVEN A CHANCE’
Mani Ratnam’s filmography boasts of classics such as Roja (1992), Bombay 995) and Dil Se… (1998) — all itically acclaimed and oted in real life. While the orld accords cult status to s movies, the filmmaker mself feels that he “would ant to change” something in ll my films”, if given a ance today.
“When I’m making a oject, or anyone for that atter, we go into details. u’re not objective then. You ed a certain distance to be le to assess, and that comes ly with time,” he expresses. But given the political tuation and the changing mes, one wonders how easy forward, keep trying, and not give up easily,” says Ratnam, 65, who’s currently busy with the Tamil film Ponniyin Selvan, starring Vikram and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
And while making films based on real life topics is difficult, he, in fact, shuts down people who feel masala films are easier to make, when compared to the trouble that real stories invite.
Explaining his point, he adds, “You need a certain amount of talent to do that (make masala films), and pull it off well. If you are comfortable and that’s the way you want to say it, that’s the reason why you make films. The reason is you want to tell stories and do it in a particular way. You try different themes within that, and get better each time. It’s a struggle, nothing is easy.”
Four years after the death of their pet dog, Riya, Madhuri Dixit Nene along with her family adopted a stray in 2019. Talking about the time they met him for the first time, the actor shares, “PETA called me up and said they found a puppy who was loitering in traffic. They asked us if we’d be interested in taking him in. We met Carmello and fell in love!”
Carmello was nothing less than a “blessing” to her family during the lockdowns, she says. On the occasion of International Dog Day, today, the actor admits that a dog is man’s best friend and adds, “I don’t know how some people abandon them. Some are also cruel. They stone them, tie firecrackers to their tails. If you can’t love them, don’t hate them. If you can’t do anything good for them, don’t harm them.”