The two developments may be unrelated; yet, some analysts link them with each other.
Veteran film director Mani Ratnam’s recent hospitalization may, for all one knows, not have had anything to do with his inability to short some scenes in Sri Lanka for his forthcoming film, “Ravana”.
But it is a measure of his reputation for professionalism that even seasoned analysts believe that he took the continued refusal of the Sri Lanka Government to grant permission to him for shooting of some important scenes of the film in the Emerald Island so much to heart as to have fallen ill.
Mani Ratnam had been hospitalized following his complaint of unease and pain in the chest. But now that he is back in action, he is out to make up the leeway.
Since the film is based on the Ramayana, Mani Ratnam wants a portion of the film to have Sri Lankan locales to gain verisimilitude.
The director is, therefore, keen to shoot those scenes in Sri Lanka, especially in Lankapura and Ashok Vatika where the story is believed to have evolved.
The “Ravana” team has been working hard to persuade the Indian and Sri Lankan Governments to allow the film to be shot in Sri Lanka. But with increasing trouble with the LTTE until recently, the Sri Lanka government understandably did not want to take chances; otherwise, the Sri Lanka government has in the past allowed several Indian films to be shot in that country.
It is a further reflection on Mani Ratnam’s professionalism that though the entire unit of the film offered to give fresh dates if Mani agreed first to take full rest and recover fully from the bout of illness before resuming the shooting, he is back to the shooting of the film from May 20.
According to one version, he has so consistently refused to postpone the shooting for “Ravana” that, pending receipt of permission from the Sri Lankan government now that the LTTE trouble is over, Mani Ratnam is shooting in the forests of Kerala where the shooting had started in the first instance.
Meanwhile, it is no mean achievement that “Roja” is to be made in English; Mani Ratnam had directed that box-office film in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil under the banner of K.Balachandar’s Kavithalaya Pictures.
Is there some significance in the timing of the English version of the film? Yes, indeed. For one thing, A. R. Rahman, who has become a household name in the Western world following the two Oscars that he has won for “Slumdog Millionaire”, had made his debut as music director in “Roja”.
For another, the increasing relevance of terrorism the world over has made the film topical because it is based against the backdrop of terrorism.