The ‘Raavan’ team has been into a lot lately. First it was the director Mani Ratnam becoming ill to the point of getting hospitalized. Now it is his camera man for the film Manikandan walking out on him.

The reason for Manikandan quitting is because he seems to committed himself to a Farah Khan project that is about to begin in June. With Mani getting ill and the project stalling a getting delayed Manikandan seems to have not fulfilled his commitment to Mani Ratnam.

So what happens now? Mani Ratnam has called his old friend and ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan to complete his project ‘Raavan’ successfully. With more than 60 percent of the film complete and his cinematographer walking out on him Mani Ratnam is confident that Santosh will do justice to the film.

A friend in need is a friend indeed!

The Mani Ratnam – Santosh Sivan duo have churned out blockbuster films like ‘Roja’, ‘Thalapathi’, ‘Iruvar’ and ‘Uyire’ the Hindi version being ‘Dilse’.

Ever since cameraman Manikandan quit Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus bi-lingual Raavan, the Kollywood grapevine has been abuzz that large chunks of the film are going to be re-shot!

Though Manikandan is refusing to comment, sources in the industry say that the cameraman left in a huff as he had given more number of days for the film, than what he had agreed upon.

Please note that Manikandan makes big money on daily wages shooting commercial ad films in Mumbai than feature films.

So, after shooting for 100 days continuously for Raavan , he found that the film was nowhere near completion and Mani wanted more dates from him but was not willing to pay him !

The working style and shot composition of the director and the cameraman clashed and soon Manikandan realized the best way forward was to opt out of the project and go back to making ad films!

As per the grapevine, after Santosh Sivan joined the unit, Mani is planning to reshoot large chunks of the film. Santosh and Mani have terrific rapport and understanding, having worked in four films together out of which two has fetched the cameraman National Awards in cinematography.