Filmmaker Mani Ratnam, who is gearing up for the release of his much-anticipated film ‘Thug Life’ on June 5, has now responded to Anurag Kashyap’s recent remarks about Tamil songs incorporating excessive English lyrics.Mani Ratnam about using English words in songsIn a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mani Ratnam offered a calm yet pointed response to the debate. “See, most of my film titles have been in Tamil. But it’s not a restrictive thing. You don’t go in with rules saying – I will do only this. I think a medium opens itself up. If it feels right, then you take that step that feels right for you. Why box yourself in with some false grammar?” he said.
He further elaborated on the creative freedom that music allows: “Sometimes you need a song like Sugar Baby, and it feels right, then you go for it. There’s no one way or the other. As long as you care enough for both,” Ratnam added.Kashyap had previously expressed concern over what he described as a trend among Tamil filmmakers, accusing them of overusing English in lyrics and dialogues.However, Ratnam dismissed the notion that such stylistic choices are made simply to appeal to younger audiences. “If you have to write a script based on mafia people, you’ve never been one. But you still write films based on that. Similarly, for today’s youngsters, if you want to write, you learn, you observe, and you write about that. So it’s not very difficult,” he explained.Thug Life features Kamal Haasan and Silambarasan TR in lead roles, alongside Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami, Joju George, Ashok Selvan, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi, Rohit Saraf, and Baburaj in key roles. The film marks the second collaboration between Kamal and Mani Ratnam, 38 years after the success of Nayakan, which was released in 1987.
