Wyjście z tamilskiego „getta” — o przekraczaniu granic w twórczości Maniego Ratnama

Abstrakt

COMING OUT FROM TAMIL “GHETTO” — ABOUT CROSSING BORDERS IN MANI RATNAM’S FILMS

In my article I’m presenting works of Mani Ratnam — one of the most significant and unique film directors in the whole Indian film industry. What makes this Tamil filmmaker special is the fact, that he managed to combine entertainment with art cinema and blend regional character of Tamil cinema with aesthetics of Bollywood. In his films Ratnam often explores social and political issues which is typical for south Indian cinema, however he focuses on emotional relations and psychological complexity of characters. The appearance of his films in the 1990s especially ”terrorist trilogy” Roja 1992, Bombay 1994, Dil Se 1998 revolutionized Tamil cinema — for the first time Tamil filmmaker told stories from the perspective of the whole ”Indian” nation, not only Tamil which is specific for Kollywood. Soon he became one of the most famous and acclaimed Tamil directors in history. In my article I’m observing how Mani Ratnam’s style has evolved through almost 30 years of his career. I especially wanted to focus on how he crossed the borders between Kollywood and Bollywood and blended roughness and hermetic ”nationalism” of Tamil cinema with entertaining universal dimension of Hindi cinema.