Films Music Television Screen I do not like to make mistakes. I like to be good in what I do, if not perfect. I accept a film only if I feel I can do justice to it.

Rajiv Menon I don't claim that I've made the best film on earth At the premiere of AVM's Minsara Kanavu, superstar Rajnikant was very impressed, not just by the film but also by the director, Rajiv Menon. He told AVM Saravanan, "Rajiv Menon is such a smart guy, I don't know why he doesn't act. He will be a very good actor-director." Rajni was not the first to feel that Rajiv should turn to acting. Mani Rathnam had tried his best to persuade him to play the lead in his blockbuster Roja, which eventually Arvind Swamy played. A sought-after ad filmmaker and a brilliant cinematographer (Chelvu and Bombay), Rajiv Menon has proved his flair for direction with Minsara Kanavu, judging by the rave reviews his film has received from critics. Though the film didn't do as well as expected at the box-office, it was quite successful, and discerning audiences were appreciative of Rajiv 's "fresh approach". The Hindi version of the film, Sapnay is all set to be released in Mumbai shortly. In an interview with Screen, Menon talks about his first film and his predilections as a director. A successful ad maker, a successful cinematographer and now a successful filmmaker. How does it feel to be always successful? Absolutely ecstatic. One has to experience it to understand what exactly I am feeling. Has it been easy achieving it? No. Not at all. It is very easy to be successful but to maintain that success takes a lot of toil and hard work. It looks great from outside, but for one who has gone through it all, it is not a cake-walk. How did Minsara Kanavu happen? The answer to this question could be the screenplay for my next film! (Laughs) I am close to the AVM family. I've known them for years. One day Mr Saravanan told me that their production company, AVM, was completing 50 years in January 1997. He was planning a film with youngsters to mark the event. They had decided on Prabhu Deva as one of the heroes and wanted to sign on AR Rahman as the music director. Since I am a good friend of AR Rahman I was asked to persuade him to do the film. Rahman came over to the AVM office and spoke to the producers. I was waiting outside. I knew he had gone to say `no' to the producers, but to my disbelief he came out of the office and told me that he was doing the film. And added that I would be directing it. I didn't know how to react! They didn't give me a chance to think. That's how the whole thing happened. You took a long time casting the heroine. You literally played musical chairs with all top heroines, starting from Madhuri Dixit till you zeroed in on Kajol. (Laughs). It really was musical chairs. The senior heroines I approached had date problems. It made me tense. That's when I thought of Kajol. She suited the character of Priya to a t. I approached her and she consented. Once I started working with Kajol, I felt that no other actress could have done the role as well. I wanted a girl who looked Indian even in western clothes. And who had black hair. The date problems of other heroines whom I had approached earlier turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Many felt that Minsara Kanavu was like a series of television commercials... What can I do about what other people feel? My producers are happy, my artistes and technicians are happy and the public has accepted my film. These are my real targets. Every action has an opposite reaction, that's life's principle. I guess the people you are talking about are my critics who react negatively to my work. I might have made mistakes, but then I have not claimed that I've made the best film on earth. You are such a good friend of Aishwarya Rai's, why didn't you take advantage of it and cast her in your film? As I told you earlier, I wanted a girl who looked Indian. Aishwarya Rai is too stylish to have played the role. You are probably the first director to exploit Prabhu Deva's potential as an actor. I believe that Prabhu Deva is a good actor, and is capable of good performances. It is not his fault if he has not been offered challenging roles. There is no point in making him dance, dance and only dance. He should do something different in every film, and only then will his range as an actor come to the fore. When my producers told me that they had already signed Prabhu Deva, I asked them for the story they had in mind for him. They gave me two scripts both had him as a dancer. I was not too pleased with that. I said let's give him a down-to-earth image. He looks very normal and simple and so let us give him an ordinary role of a plumber or a mechanic or a barber which he can perform without effort. That's what I gave him. You seem to have worked on a one-line story... All films are based on a small idea. It's important how you treat it. What is the theme of Raj Kapoor's Bobby? It is a rich boy-meets-poor girl story. What caught the fancy of the viewers was the manner in which he developed it. Films like Dilwale... and Khamoshi ran into controversies because of the manner in which they portrayed the church. But that didn't seem to deter you. Weren't you worried at all? I was worried, so I went about it carefully. I do not know what went wrong with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Khamoshi, but I made it a point to consult some senior Christian priests before working on my sequences. I wanted to be hassle free. You are an acknowledged cinematographer, then why did you get Venu to do the cinematography in Minsara Kanavu. I believe that one can do full justice to only one task at a time. I might be a good cinematographer, but when I am directing a film I cannot pay attention to both the departments equally. So I decided to concentrate on one department completely. Venu has done a great job. He has given my film a different colour. Is Sapnay, the dubbed Hindi version of Minsara Kanavu, different from the original? It is the same, except for the climax. The Hindi version has a separately shot climax. It is much longer. The songs have also been shot separately. Why did you have to reshoot the songs? Songs play an important part in a film's success. I didn't want any lack of co-ordination between the words and the visuals. Dubbed songs generally lose out on the impact... so I shot the songs of the two versions simultaneously. You are extremely selective about the films you accept as a cinematographer. Why? I do not like to make mistakes. I like to be good in what I do, if not perfect. I accept a film only if I feel I can do justice to it. I cinematographed Cheluvu and Bombay only because I was sure of what I could do with them. How was it working with Mani Ratnam in Bombay? Great. I enjoyed working with him. Mani Rathnam is a perfectionist. He will not stop until he is satisfied with his work. He is one of the very few directors in India who never compromises on details. Why didn't you accept the role of the hero in Roja? Mani did offer the film to me but I didn't think it was the right time for me to take to acting. I was already involved in a lot of other things, so I said no. Had I turned into an actor then, I do not think I could have cinematographed Bombay or directed Minsara Kanavu. What are your future plans? They will be worked out in future (roars with laughter). It is months since I slept peacefully. I want to sleep. I want to play with my little daughter. I want to sing lullabiess to her. I want to go on picnics. I want to.... The list seems to be endless. I want to take some time off, wait till Minsara Kanavu gets out of my system. Only then will I think of my next project. Maybe I will now make a film in Hindi.