Sandwiched between his classics like Geethanjali (1989) starring Nagarjuna and the Rajinikanth-starrer Thalapathi (1991), Mani Ratnam helmed Anjali in 1990. Interestingly, Ratnam used a character in this film to take his ‘sweet revenge’ on Malayalam screenwriter Dennis Joseph who had ditched him halfway through the project.
In an interview with Safari TV, Joseph, who passed away a few years ago, recalled his collaboration with Ratnam on Anjali and how he eventually had to leave the project midway. He said, “Mani Ratnam told me the story idea about this child with autism and how it affects her family. It was all there in his mind. He just had to write it down. I asked him why the screenwriter of a classic screenplay text like Nayakan needs someone like me to write his film. But he said something that surprised me, that after Sholay, my script for New Delhi is the screenplay he considers the best commercial script of Indian cinema at the time. I was so thrilled to hear that from the writer of Nayakan. So even though I was reluctant due to my lack of fluency in Tamil and busy schedules, I committed to writing the screenplay for Anjali, and we parted ways. We had many discussions whenever we met.”
However, an urgent request to help with the script of a film starring Mammootty and Mohanlal led to Dennis Joseph’s exit from Mani Ratnam’s Anjali. “It was during this time that a film with Mohanlal and my friend and director Joshiy was greenlit. So Joshiy, who was looking for a script last minute, approached me and begged me to help in the situation. So I had to leave the Mani Ratnam film to work on this script, which eventually became the now-classic multi-star Malayalam thriller No. 20 Madras Mail, which had both Mammootty and Mohanlal in the lead roles.”
Reflecting on his decision to walk away from Ratnam’s project, Joseph admitted it was a mistake. “I felt bad professionally and personally for letting the Mani Ratnam film go as we both began to vibe well with each other, and he was really feeling relaxed, having faith in me to write the screenplay for him. In retrospect, it was a professional blunder on my side. Mani Ratnam was very sad to hear the news of my exit, but I apologized to him. That was my situation,” he said.
Also Read | How a film originally written for Vijay made this young actor an overnight star in Tamil cinema
In the interview, Dennis Joseph also recounted how Mani Ratnam got his ‘sweet revenge’ after his sudden departure, when Anjali was eventually released. “After some months, when Anjali finally released, Mani Ratnam called me one fine day, and asked me to go watch the film in theatres if possible, stating that he had done a small act of revenge against me in the film. I was curious. I went for the show and only found that there is this grumpy, mystery killer character in the film played by Prabhu. In one scene, the kids who are all scared of him stand back afraid and one kid tells the other, his name is Dennis Joseph, a very big killer! If you watch that film now, you can also see my name used for that character. This was Mani Ratnam’s sweet revenge against me.”
