Filmmaker Mani Ratnam and composer A. R. Rahman's Ponniyin Selvan: 2 is all set t open in theatres worldwide on April 28 and the highly-successful duo recently sat down for an exclusive interview with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, to talk about the epic historical action adventure film, while also looking back at their three-decade journey in Tamil cinema to talk about their previous collaborations, including Roja, which signaled the start of their partnership.
Speaking about how he came on board Roja in 1992, A. R. Rahman said, "The biggest blessing, I think, him asking and everything came together. It's like a strange destiny. When you look at it, Balachander comes in. He actually came before Balachander sir and said, 'We're doing Thiruda Thiruda.' Then, he suddenly came and said, 'We're doing another movie. I'm directing for Mr. Balachander and all the goodies came together. So, there was a credibility, you know the production house and India's best director here guiding me and I knew I was in good hands. He said, 'Even if this doesn't do well, we'll do another movie.' He was assuring my mother and my mother said thank you."
When Mani Ratnam was asked whether he was doing Thiruda Thiruda first and not Roja, the filmmaker stated, "At any point of time, sometimes you have a few ideas. You don't know which one will fall into place. So, I was trying to toy with both ideas and Roja happened all of a sudden. One day I got a call from KB sir's office and so I went there and they wanted me to do a film. I can't sell Thiruda Thiruda to KB. So, I had to shift to Roja." He added, "Before Roja is when I met him (A. R. Rahman). I went to his studio. It was a tiny studio. I'm used to Prasad (Studios), which is a massive one. And, he has a small studio and I go in and he has a nice bench. It was lesser than this room. And, then he plays things that he has recorded before. He takes a tape from somewhere and then puts it. The sound was just unbelievable. I had not heard something like that here. And, it was just mesmerising. I then asked him if he can give me a demo tape and he put a few things together and gave it. And, it was just outstanding. So, once Roja as a film got locked, then I came to him. And then he started doing the music."
Watch Mani Ratnam and A. R. Rahman in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan:
