Suhasini Maniratnam: ‘You will never find a director who can plan as well as Manobala’

Suhasini Maniratnam, who was a frequent collaborator of Manobala, opens up about the actor-filmmaker who passed away on Wednesday.

Suhasini with Manobala.

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While Manobala is prevalently known as an actor, he used to be a renowned director back in the 80s and 90s. He has even directed Rajinikanth in the film Oorkaavalan. If you are familiar with the hilarious sequence of Radhika Sarathkumar waking up Rajinikanth early morning and torturing him to eat hundreds of idly, it means you are familiar with Manobala’s direction. The scene is one example of the comedy sense of the multi-faceted actor.

Manobala joined Bharathiraja as an assistant director with a recommendation from Kamal Haasan. He then turned director with the film Agaya Gangai (1982), which had Suhasini Maniratnam and Karthik in the lead roles. It is the first of many collaborations between Manobala and the actress, who is dejected by the demise of her dear friend and mentor. Suhasini, who is currently in Hyderabad, spoke to The Indian Express about Manobala’s prowess as a director.

“You will never find a director who can plan as well as Manobala. Revathy and I directed a one-hour film, which he produced. He would plan it so well. I have acted in many of his films and assisted him in many films. I have acted in only one TV serial Panchavaranam, which was produced by Madras Talkies. Manobala directed it. There is no other director who makes things comfortable like him. At the same time, he won’t just put artistes on a pedestal.”

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She added, “He had a great sense of music, dance, art, and costume. I liked his dialogues. He studied arts and had a great taste in things. He is like a brother… actually, he is closer to me than a brother. It is a big loss. Fifteen days back, he spoke to me. I never realised that he is going to go away because he would go to the hospital for treatment like this, and the next day, he would go to shoots.”

Suhasini Maniratnam regrets not calling him yesterday because she was wondering why he hadn’t called to give his feedback about my projects. “He would call with all excitement, and I was waiting that he would call by himself this time as well. I think I waited too long. I should have called him yesterday and spoken to him. I missed it. Now, I can never call him again.”

Manobala was suffering from a liver-related ailment and was undergoing treatment for the same. He passed away on Wednesday at his residence in Saligramam, Chennai.

Kirubhakar Purushothaman

Kirubhakar Purushothaman is a Principal Correspondent with Indian Express and is based out of Chennai. He has been writing about Tamil cinema and a bit about OTT content for the past eight years across top media houses. Like many, he is also an engineer-turned-journalist from Tamil Nadu, who chose the profession just because he wanted to make cinema a part of his professional life. ... Read More

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