Quotes from Mani Ratnam

Any good film you see gives you enough motivation and adrenaline rush to produce good content, while a bad film can get you so angry that you produce even better content.

Most ideas remain inside you for a while. You tell somebody when there is a spark or a thought, and leave it at that. You come back later, write down a few lines. I makes note in my mind on whether it can be made into a film or not.

It is usually the setting that decides whether a movie can be made in two languages. If the subject is rooted up North, then I make it in Hindi. But if the subject is common, then I am open to making the movie in multiple languages.

Mumbai is the most cosmopolitan city.

Can I call up any actor in Mumbai? I can, and they can say wrong number and hang up!

Unfortunately scripts don't chase me. I chase them. I struggle, battle, discard, pick it back, struggle further, plead with it, curse it, cajole and try to be clever. But it is invariably the script that rules.

Actors are the most important. Performance is what matters. Nothing matters more than the actors; they have to perform. No one else can give life to the characters. Audiences must believe the characters as real and the moments as real.

Whenever I am abroad, I spend hours and hours at video stores. I look for classics from filmmakers from all over the world.

I am not against songs in films. We come from an oral tradition of storytelling. I have grown up listening to epics in oral rendition and oral rendition always had music.

I don't have to stand back as an outsider to look at society.

Movie criticism is very subjective and everyone has the right to voice their opinion. You go to a movie and decide whether you like it or not.

Certain subjects are best done with stars. Certain subjects like 'Alai Payuthe' are done with non-stars. In such films, stars are a burden.

Each success gives me the adrenaline to move to another film.

I enjoy making all kinds of films. I love action films, war films, period films, adventure films.

When Kamal Haasan did 'Nayakan,' he had done a few roles that had him aged and demanded a lot of commitment from. He was already a veteran and a master.