Why Mani Ratnam ended up in hospital

Bangalore: The slowdown is choking funding for India's best-known director, and pushing him to overwork to the point of exhaustion

An exhausted Mani Ratnam was admitted to hospital yesterday, and many in the film industry are afraid he is ruining his health beyond repair by working at a frenetic pace.

"He has been slogging for more than 90 days without a break," a film industry source told MiD DAY. "And he has travelled back and forth from the forests of Kerala-Kolkata-Tamil Nadu".

Mani Ratnam's bilingual, called Raavan in Hindi and Asokavanam in Tamil, is nearly ready. It stars Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, and Tamil star Vikram.

Rumours made the rounds yesterday that the auteur had suffered a heart attack, but his publicist told MiD DAY it was just exhaustion.

"His condition is stable, and he should be out of hospital in two days," said Nikhil Murugan, PRO for Mani Ratnam.

Why is Mani Ratnam driving himself so hard?

The big stars had given him dates for a production to be funded by a corporate production house, but it backed out at the last moment, citing money flow problems.

Left with a ready star cast, he decided to put in his own money and go ahead with the shooting. Two star-friends have also invested in the project, a source said.

Mani Ratnam is in a hurry to wrap up the film as quickly as possible.

On Tuesday, he spent time with movie industry friends such as A R Rahman, Ajith, Arvind Samy, and P C Sreeram at a hospital ward built in memory of music composer Mahesh, who died of cancer soon after he made music for a Kamal Haasan starrer.

'His condition is stable'

Mani Ratnam, who introduced Oscar-winning musician A R Rahman in Roja, wasn't sleeping enough, and was gamely putting up with the rigours of camp life deep inside the forests of Kerala.

Known to be a perfectionist, Mani Ratnam's Nayakan, Agni Natchatram, Anjali, Guru, Bombay, Dil Se, and Kannathil Muthamittal have received wide acclaim, and moderate to big box office success.