Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvam, SS Rajamouli’s RRR and Sukumar’s Pushpa were all blockbusters last year. SS Rajamouli is touring the world and is getting recognized globally for RRR, while Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan second part is to be released this April and songs from Sukumar's Pushpa became chart busters. Hit pan-India directors who drove people to theatres in 2022, Mani Ratnam, SS Rajamouli and Sukumar shared a stage to discuss about the trend and future of cinema at the South India media and Entertainment Summit 2023 that was held in Chennai. The panel was mediated by Anu Hassan.
In the first part of the session, they spoke about on how they pitch a Pan-India film, to which Mani Ratnam said It's the film that goes pan-India and global and he can only think about good story that holds the film. Rajamouli agreed and Sukumar said though his film Pushpa was rooted in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh and they did not think it will work across India. They also spoke about how marketing of movies have changed from traditional to digital media. The sough-after directors also spoke about how young filmmakers can enter and excel in the industry
Answering fan questions, Rajamouli was asked a question about why his fight scene are less natural? to which he relied he wants everything to be larger than life. They also got candid and shared what they did during the pandemic induced lock downs. Then, Mani Ratnam was asked what was the one thing that made a positive impact on his creativity?. Mani Ratnam said it was SS Rajamouli and added he wanted to bring the epic novel Ponniyin Selvan to screen for years but "I couldn’t find a way to do it till Baahubali" came. The versatile director went on to say "It opened a door for us, as it was released in two parts", it proved that audience do enjoy films that are released in two parts. Rajamouli said it was the biggest complement he could ever get. The interaction went on about various topics like difference between making films in Mumbai and in south, Pushpa director Sukumar was asked how he designs his characters. The discussion ended with a question for Mani Ratnam on how he handles human emotions.
