A Scene From Maniratnam's Roja

‘All my films hinge on the fantasies. I’m not a documentarian; a film is first and foremost a dream. I move from realism to fantasy without the spectator ever noticing.’ Jean-Pierre Melville.

Maniratnam is a director with handful of great movies and a director with a revolutionary style. Undoubtedly, Maniratnam is one of the most influential film personalities in the history of Indian cinema, perhaps Tamil Industry's best known director. His secret is in the shots, dialogues and the way he uses music tracks.

Shot: (Day _ Characters Walking)

White.

Liaqat: Jehad

Rishi: What does it mean?

Liaqat: You won’t understand it. It is a Holy War.

Rishi: Against whom?

Liaqat: Your India.

Rishi

Location Changed
Next Shot: Establishing Shot. (Night _ An isolated small house)

Black.

‘Thamizha Thamizha Kankal Kalangaathe…’ song starts.

(The conversation between Rishi and Liaqat continues)

Next Shot: (Night_Characters sitting face to face inside the house)

Fire.

The conversation continues along with the song in the background.

(Camera slowly roams around the characters)

The beauty of the scene is in the combination of music, location, color tone, and dialogues.

The film industry always favors the ‘masala’ aspect but there is a certain satisfaction that comes from a film that breaks the tradition. Maniratnam movies stand in-between Art and Commercial genre, the line is very thin that’s why not many succeed in copying him.