橘子園的喧鬧

左為南印導演 Mani Ratnam ，右為Rajiv Menon 。

Rajiv Menon ( 拉吉夫  梅農）曾經導過的兩部Tamil 語電影作品，請來了寶萊塢的兩位當家花旦Kajol 和 Aishwarya Rai ，讓平日看慣印地語電影的觀眾，有興趣一探泰米爾語電影的不同面貌。在尚未執導演筒之前，Rajiv Menon 其實是一位非常優秀的攝影師，拍攝過無數的廣告，也是南印另一位大導演 Mani Ratnam 喜歡合作的對象，像1995年的「Bombay」和 2007年的「 Guru」都是請來 Rajiv Menon 擔任攝影師。1997年的「Minsaara Kanavu 」描述的是原本立志當修女的Priya (Kajol 飾)，情竇初開，陷入三角戀情的故事，片中飾演Deva 的Prabhu Deva 有「印度的Michael Jackson」之稱，其舞蹈值得一看。 2000年的「Kandukondain Kandukondain 」則是一對個性截然不同的姐妹花Meenakshi 和Sowmya(Aishwarya Rai 和 Tabu 分飾)，面對家庭劇變、面對愛情來臨，產生不同的處理態度，Aishwarya Rai 仍然一展她的舞蹈天份，為全片增色不少。兩部片都請來了印度樂壇大師 A. R. Rahman擔任配樂，女主角的歌聲也由南印著名幕後女歌手Sadhana Sargam 和 K.S. Chitra 演繹，為兩部片增添更高的可聽性。

攝影作品
4. Guru (2007)
3. Morning Raga (2004)
2. Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)
1. Bumbai (1995) 

             Minsaara Kanavu / Sapnay(1997)                        Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)

以下是2000年4月14日「Kandukondain Kandukondain 」上映前，訪問導演的部份截取：

How do you compare your experience of directing your first film, Minsara Kanavu with this one, Kandukondain, Kandukondain?

I think directing a film is like a woman going through labour. After she goes through the labour pain and delivers her first baby, she says she will not going to have another baby. Then, when she sees the child growing up, she decides to have one more child!

Your first child is almost three now. What did you see in it that prompted you to have a second child?

When I see the songs of Minsara Kanavu on air, when strangers come and tell you even now, 'we like that song, we like the colours in the song, I like that character,' etc, one feels like going through the whole process again.

Minsara Kanavu was a hit in the South, but not in the North. So, I had a flop and a hit in my last film. Even in places like Bombay where Sapnay didn't do well, people came up and told me that they liked the songs. Some set of people liked it and some didn't. In some places, people felt that the script was not very good and it did not make sense to the northerners.

In fast forward, I thought I would like a bigger story base this time. I found everything falling in place and everything happening the way I planned, barring the fact that the film is six months behind schedule.

So, you had a very long pregnancy for your second child...

Yes, the gestation period was a little longer. We didn't shoot for six months. After Aishwarya Rai gave two huge hits in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Taal, a lot of her films which were in sleep mode suddenly woke up. So, she had to devote time to those films which caused us a delay of around four to five months.

Then, I wanted something strong, different, Indian and classical from A R Rahman. That took some more time. These two factors resulted in a delay of six months. But the fact is that both of them have done great jobs. Ash has given a great performance and Rahman some brilliant scores. So, I can't really complain.

Above all, both of them are very good friends of mine and they are lovely human beings too. I am happy with the way things have turned out finally.

Was making this film easier than your first film? Are you more satisfied?

Much easier. I am sure the third one will be even faster. (又過了7年了，何時才會有第三個小孩呢…?  )But we don't know which one will be successful. We don't know what will happen to these films after 20 years.

珍貴畫面由小麥提供



小事一椿：

版主唯一看過Kajol 和Aishwarya Rai 同時出現的場合是2002年她們出席在孟買所舉辦的Rajiv Gandhi Awards 並接受特別獎項，那時 Kajol 旁邊還坐了Shahrukh Khan 。今年Aishwarya Rai 和Abhishek Bachchan 結婚時，Kajol 及其夫婿Ajay Devgan 受邀擔任貴賓，顯見兩家關係良好。祝福這兩位婚後一樣閃亮的美女，演藝事業一路長紅。