Director Lijo Jose Pellissery of the Angamaly Diaries and Jallikattu fame has earned a new celebrity fan. In a recent live interaction on Instagram, director Mani Ratnam revealed that Lijo was among his favourite directors.
“Lijo, I am a big fan of yours. I think you are probably one of the best directors today. Congrats, keep it up,” said Mani Ratnam, who came live on his wife and actor Suhasini’s Instagram account.
The ace director decided to interact with his audience to commemorate 20 years of his super hit film Alaipayuthey. Along with Suhasini, Mani Ratnam had a live conversation with actor Madhavan, who played the lead in the movie, on Instagram.
During the live, Suhasini spotted Lijo Jose Pellissery tracking the discussion. She immediately told Mani Ratnam, “Your favourite director is watching. Lijo Jose Pellissery is watching.
Suhasini even went on to add that she had only watched one film of Lijo while her husband has watched most of his films. She recounted Lijo’s popular films such as Jallikattu and Ee Ma Yau, to which Mani Ratnam added Angamaly Diaries and Amen.
Mani Ratnam also took questions from the live audience and spoke about his upcoming magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan.
Written and directed by Mani Ratnam, Ponniyin Selvan is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s historical fictional novel. The film, which is speculated to be split into two parts, has a star-studded cast, which includes Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Karthi, Vikram Prabh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shobitha Dhulipala and Aishwarya Lekshmi, among others.
Mani Ratnam and Suhasini also had a small live with actor Aditi Rao Hydari, who asked the director questions on casting and how he goes about casting in his films.