Roopa Swaminathan, author of the National Award-winning book, Star Dust, Vignettes from the fringes of the Film Industry, calls herself a hardcore Mumbaiite who loves cinema and grew up watching Hindi films.

She is currently in the US, trying to mobilise funding for her second film. Her first, in English, was produced by the National Film Development Corporation and is yet to hit theatres. Excerpts from a conversation with Shobha Warrier, from Rediff.com.

So where did this interest in film come from?

As I grew up, I always knew I would make films. But, considering I think and write in English, I wanted to make films in English. I was in the US for a bit – in Los Angeles, trying to get a first hand feel for Hollywood. I came back to India to get my visa renewed, and met Mani Ratnam casually. He asked me to stay back and work with him. I did that for a year. I then applied for funding to NFDC, and got it approved. My first English feature film, Five By Four, has been to many festivals like Shanghai, AFM in Los Angeles, and Ashdod in Jerusalem, but still awaits a theatrical release.

In the meantime, I won a fiction-writing contest for Oxford Bookstore. Penguin got my name from the contest and commissioned me to write Star Dust. I have also penned three coffee table biographies for Rupa Publications, on MGR, Sivaji Ganeshan and Kamal Haasan. But my goal, in terms of biography, is to write one on Rajnikant. Not a coffee table book, but a full-length biography. He is truly my Thalaivar! (leader). If he ever decides to go for it, I hope he'd let me do it. I am intensely fascinated by his life story!

What is it about him that fascinates you?

I saw Thalapati and fell for the Rajnikant magnetism. It has stayed ever since. I just love his movies. They remind me of Manmohan Desai's films in Hindi. Desai was unapologetic about making films that threw logic to the winds and simply entertained. Rajni's films feel the same to me. It's difficult to explain that X-factor that makes his movies so special.

My friends from Mumbai cannot understand how someone like me who wants to make films in Hollywood and has grown up watching Hindi cinema can like Rajni so much. I suppose that is the magic of cinema! In terms of writing his biography, I think the journey he made from a bus conductor to becoming the most powerful man in Tamil Nadu is fascinating to me. I have always dreamt big -- not that I have achieved any of it, of course -- like winning an Oscar some day, working in the White House, etc. It's a huge reinforcement of what a human being can achieve when someone like Rajni made it this big from such a humble background. In that sense, it is highly inspiring. Another positive in his favour is he seems incredibly humble. I would love to get inside his head and find out what makes him tick!

Why did you decide to concentrate on the Tamil film industry?

For a couple of reasons. One, I genuinely found more interesting people in Tamil cinema. They are altogether smarter and more passionate than those from Hindi cinema. Tamil cinema is a lot about wanting money, fame etc, but it's also about making different kinds of cinema. Technicians are constantly pushing themselves to become bigger and better. Secondly, I wanted to highlight the fact that Bollywood is not representative of Indian cinema. There's more to Indian cinema than that.

You met hundreds of people to write the book. Did you develop friendships as a result?

Not really. I mean, a few fans of Ajith still hound me when I walk past them in Mambalam. I am in touch with many of the assistants profiled in the book. Film director Dharani and I became extremely close during the writing of the book, which was a bit of a surprise since the film industry is not a place where you can develop friendships.

There are many actors who are outsiders but became extremely successful in the film industry. Why did you decide to have Vikram's story in the book? Was it because of his long struggle to finally be an insider?

Vikram was another dear friend I made during the book. I wrote about him for many selfish reasons. When the book was mooted (in 2003), Vikram was only just beginning to make it huge. I had spent all of the year before (2002) trying to tell people what an amazing actor he was, and everyone looked at me as if I were mad.

I am from Mumbai. I had never heard of Kenny (Vikram) until I saw a half hour of Sethu on Sun TV and was blown away. To me, he was a brand new actor, but, to those in Chennai, he was a 15-year struggler who finally had that one hit. While I was eager to find out about his next films, those around me couldn't let go of his past. So, when my book was approved by Penguin and I knew I would have a chapter profiling a mega success story, I could think of doing it on no one else.

Imagine my incredible surprise and good luck that he went on to become one of the biggest stars in Tamil cinema and win the National Award in 2003! That was the icing on the cake! And Penguin was finally convinced about my choice!

Source: www.rediff.com

http://us.rediff.com/movies/2005/nov/10roopa.htm?q=mbp&file=.htm?q=mbp&file=.htm