His credentials as a filmmaker are well established and he is on the wish list of most top Bollywood stars, but Mani Ratnam still feels like a newcomer before the release of his each film.
   
The Tamil director is awaiting the release of his bilingual film Raavan this Friday.
   
"I am not worried about the craze and expectations from others. I just want to get the film right and do as good as I can. I feel as pressurized as a beginner before every release," Ratnam told PTI.
   
Actors’ input

The 54-year-old director, who made films like Roja, Dil Se, Bombay and Guru, which garnered both critical acclaim and box office success said that he often turns to his writers and actors for help while making a film in Hindi.
   
"I trust the writer when he says something will not sound right in Hindi. I ask him how would it sound right. I trust the actor and discuss it with him. So we discover many things together," said Ratnam.
   
The director, fondly called Mani sir, feels that making a film in Hindi is a liberating experience because he lets go of the control.
   
"In Tamil, I hold more reins and control while in Hindi, I trust the other persons more so it becomes a liberating experience," said the filmmaker.
   
"I am an instinctive filmmaker and the challenge is not to let go totally of the instinct while directing a scene in two different languages. Once you finish a shot you can't move on to the next shot immediately. The tempo just changes," he said.

On Abhishek

Ratnam, who has given Abhishek Bachchan hits like Yuva and Guru, does not think that the upswing in the actor's career is due to him.
    
"I have not done anything drastic for Abhishek. I just made him play a character which is close to him. Since Yuva, Abhishek has grown as an actor by leaps and bounds," he said.
    
"As a filmmaker you are selfish, you want what is right for your film. If I think Abhishek can do a role well and if he is equally interested, then we do it together. It is simple."
     
Ratnam said in all the three films he has done with Abhishek so far, he had given the actor drastically different characters and each time he has delivered.
    
"He has done something which we did not know how to do, but we managed and he was able to get across the gist of the character on screen. Abhishek is great to work with and he has been able to convert the film into a fine product. But unless we find something new we will not work," the director added.
    
Larger

According to Ratnam, Raavan as compared to Guru and Yuva was larger than life and needed bigger portrayal and flamboyance and Abhishek managed to shed his inhibitions to portray the character convincingly.     

The director wanted to cast Abhishek in Tamil version as Dev. "But, Abhishek would have to learn the language first and I would have still been shooting," he laughed.
    
However, he is happy with Aishwarya's progress in Tamil. "Her Tamil is as good as my Hindi. But, she understands the language and picks up the dialogues fast," Ratnam said adding that the actress's formal training in Tamil started when she debuted with his 1997 Tamil movie Iruvar.
    
The perfectionist that Ratnam is, he does not like to look back on his previous movies because he sees "only mistakes."

Directorial concept

The veteran filmmaker believes that cinema is an extension of story telling and he likes to narrate his stories in a language that the audience understands.
    
"I don't believe in being different for the sake of being different," he said, adding that all his films deal with different facets of relationships.
    
"Every film cannot have the same element. The idea of Raavan struck while I was shooting the last schedule of Guru. I even discussed the concept with Aishwarya," he said.     

On Rahman

Ratnam said he had high regards for Oscar-winner A R Rahman, who has been a permanent fixture in all his movies. In fact, it was Ratnam's Roja that first introduced Rahman to Hindi audience.
    
"He wants to do something new and experiment. He leaves away safety and does not want to concentrate on commercial hit songs," Ratnam said.
    
This time, the director is introducing Tamil superstar Vikram to the Hindi audience through his film. "Why not... he brings freshness to the script."     

Incidentally, Ratnam has yet not decided on his next project after Raavan.
    
"I have two three ideas in mind. Nothing has been finalised," he said.