Mani Ratnam reveals he wanted to make Alai Payuthey with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol: ‘I had not cracked the last element’

At the open forum of G5A Retrospective, Mani Ratnam said, “What I had planned to do with Shah Rukh was Alai Payuthey. I wanted to do it with Shah Rukh and Kajol and I told him the story and he agreed. But I had not cracked the last element of the story. If you’ve seen Alai Payuthey it is built around one day and we keep going back to that one day, and when the accident happens and the wife is missing, and he is searching through it. So, that element I didn’t have it at that point in time. So, we shifted to Dil Se.”

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The filmmaker said he finally cracked the ending of Alai Payuthey during the making of his 1998 film, Dil Se – which featured Shah Rukh and Manisha Koirala in lead roles. “Once I was finishing Dil Se, I was able to solve this problem (with Alai Payuthey), and I was still interested in doing it (film),” the director added.

Saathiya, the Hindi version of Alai Payuthey, was directed by Shaad Ali. Mani Ratnam said every film goes through several changes during every step of the filmmaking – from inception to casting and editing. “You are never sure you got it correct.. . You are still trying. Even when you’ve written fully, when you shoot, you are looking for something more because it’s still getting constructed,” Ratnam said.

The filmmaker said that films are “pieces of people and bits of life” and one tries to make them appear like a “reflection of entire life”. “You need to elevate it… Actors have to come and make it alive, if they don’t do so, you can shout at them,” he said, adding, the process of fine tuning continues even while editing.

A three-day retrospective on Mani Ratnam is being held from January 24 to 26 by not-for-profit organisation G5A at the G5A warehouse in South Mumbai. Films such as Nayakan, Bombay, Raavan, Kannathil Muthamittal, Kaatru Veliyidai, Alai Payuthey, and Iruvar will be screened at the retrospective.

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