Conversations with Mani Ratnam

Baradwaj Rangan

Viking

328 pages with 24 pages coloured illustrations, Rs 799

Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan is among Time’s ‘100 Best Movies Ever’; and his film Roja launched AR Rahman. In these freewheeling conversations, candid, witty, pensive and sometimes combative, Ratnam elaborates on his choice of themes, from the knottiness in urban relationships (Agni Natchatiram) to the rents in the national fabric (Bombay); his directing of children (Anjali); his artful use of songs; his innovative use of lighting, as well as what led him to make films in Hindi and other languages.