AR Rahman says he always knew of SS Rajamouli’s calibre: ‘When Baahubali came out…’

“When I saw Magadheera, I knew what this man (Rajamouli) can do, and when Baahubali came out, I was like ‘jaw dropped.’ It glorified Telugu cinema beautifully.” Talking about pan-Indian films, the music icon said, “Roja, Bombay, and Dil Se are all pan-Indian films. It’s more about what we can learn from each other,” he told Bollywood Bubble

Rahman was talking to the publication with director Mani Ratnam about their recent collaboration Ponniyin Selvan 1 aka PS1. The film is slowly inching toward the Rs 475-crore-mark, and has turned out to be the biggest Tamil grosser in recent times.

Mani Ratnam was asked about Aishwarya Rai, with whom the veteran filmmaker has teamed up multiple times. “When I shot with her for Iruvar, she was very professional. She would take direction very well. She was good even then, in my opinion. Iruvar, her first film, didn’t have like an easy role. It had two shades to it, and she performed both with enough conviction. So, think she always had it in her.”

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Mani Ratnam added, “First, she is a friend. She is loving, caring, and very very very professional actor. She will work hard and give you her best, and you can’t expect more.”

When asked if Amitabh Bachchan was supposed to play a role in PS1 as it was rumoured earlier, Mani Ratnam said, “No. There were no such plans.” However, the Tamil director would definitely want to act with Big B. “Hope I will be able to do a film with him sometime. I should have enough meat for him. He has done so much and so well all these years. So, I need to have something extra to push him to do it. Till then I don’t have the courage to go and tell him ‘please do this film’.”