mani matters-3

It is noteworthy that the team the magician has comprises of people who wax eloquent and who hold forth on any platform on any given topic, not just cinema. Probably it is the synergy of all these positive energies and thoughts that has made his work click for almost close to three decades now, and stand the test of the time over which many a man has come with far more promise. Probably as someone put it his success could be attributed to the fact that he chose the right pearls lying scattered and threaded them into a nice garland. Read, watch any interview of Sujatha, P.C.Sreeram, Santosh Sivan, Sabu Cyril, A.R.Rahman, Rajeev Menon, H.Sridhar, Sreekar Prasad, Thota Tharani, Ravi.K.Chandran, Balu Mahendra, and in a different league Ramgopal Varma, Shekhar Kapur, and it will be clear what I mean. What delights me is that these people are the behind-the-screens variety, and yet give the stars and starlets a run for their fame. Each understands and acknowledges the medium as a whole rather than projecting his own craft as the limiting factor. Isn't that an advantage for any director who has the padding of so many "directors" and alter egos? Sreekar Prasad is an Editor and H.Sridhar is a Sound Engineer, and their interviews are read to be believed. When H.Sridhar talks about planting red herrings in Hassan's D by not showing two of the ten roles leaving something for the audience to ponder over, you know these guys understand human psyche more than anything else. Then broaching 6- track, 4-track, stereo, mono, DTS would sound dumb! The irony is that in the overall success, and the general impact generated by the movie that is in question these souls are never the recipients of instant and direct fame.

Yet they contribute, and how!