Mani Ratnam threatened to throw people off fourth floor for not following direction, didn’t have creative clashes with Kamal Haasan on Thug Life

Filmmaker Mani Ratnam said that he customises his approach depending on the actor he's working with. He also admitted that he can lose patience when his direction isn't followed.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | May 27, 2025 11:57 AM IST

3 min read

Filmmaker Mani Ratnam speaking at a masterclass on “Transforming Literary Masterpieces into Engaging Films” during the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

Even though actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan recently said that director Mani Ratnam has become ‘more refined’ with age, the acclaimed director said that he is still prone to losing patience when his creative demands aren’t met. In an interview, he said that his approach to direction changes depending on the actor he’s working with, and that he’s happy to customise his process. He did, however, mention that he will never enact a scene for an actor, as he considers it to be a disrespectful practice. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, the filmmaker also opened up about working with Kamal Haasan, and said that the actor is completely malleable as a performer.

Asked if he’s in zen mode on set, the filmmaker said, “You can’t let everyone be. Some people you have to threaten. I’ve promised people that I’ll throw them off the fourth floor if they don’t do what I’m asking them to do. Sometimes, you have to tell an actor that if a five-year-old child can work at odd hours, so can they. There’s no one solution. But, if you have a good actor, and if what they bring in adds value…”

Also read – Mani Ratnam asked STR to choke Kamal Haasan ‘harder’ during Thug Life shoot; 70-year-old actor scolded him for being too rough: ‘I was very confused’

The filmmaker said that the movie is the priority, and that every person should be in service of it. Asked if he ever enacts scenes, the filmmaker said, “I don’t do it with anybody, not even Kamal. Not unless I have to. I don’t believe in that. I don’t want them to do what I’m doing. I don’t think it is a director’s job to act and show. A good actor could take offence if you show them how to act.”

He said that even someone as seasoned as Kamal Haasan has no problem in completely surrendering himself to his vision, and that this wasn’t a problem even when they were working on Nayakan all those decades ago. “Even then, he always trusted me. If I say we go this way, he’ll go. He believes in you, and if he thinks you know what you’re doing, he comes with you.” In an earlier interview, also with THR India, the actor had said that Mani Ratnam hasn’t ‘mellowed’ with age, but has learnt to be patient with others.

He said, “He shouldn’t mellow; that would dilute him. But he has slowed down for people around him to catch up. In Tamil, the word for time is ‘mani’, and we have a running joke where we call him ‘5:30 Mani Ratnam’ because that’s the time he reaches the set. The poor cameraman will have to be there at least at 5, for which he will have to leave at 4:30.” Their new film, Thug Life, is slated for release on June 5.

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