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First it was Kamal Hassan. Now it is Mani Ratnam. They have left imprints of their hands and feet in the Hall of Fame put up by Chennai's exclusive DVD store, Cinema Paradiso.

Mani Ratnam was at the shop in C P Ramaswamy Road at Alwarpet to complete the exercise on September 3 even as star-gazers thronged the venue. Passers-by stopped to have a look at one of India's ace directors while there was a near traffic snarl.

He also left an imprint of his signature for posterity to see.

Mani Ratnam launched the web site of the DVD store -- www.cinemaparadisoshop.com. The web site comprises a list of 2,500 titles (essentially English and Hindi) available at the store. 

In a brief chat, Mani Ratnam disclosed that shooting of his Hindi film, suspended due to the recent injury sustained by actor Vivek Oberoi, would resume shortly.

"It will begin soon", said the director, a man of few words. "Vivek is now okay", he added.

He also indicated that the Tamil version would probably be completed before taking up the Hindi venture. "It is possible that the Tamil film will be completed before the Hindi version", he said.

As is customary with him, he was not willing to divulge anything at all on the subjects and treatment that he had opted for.

On reports that music would not have an important role in his next film, he said music would be there but not in the conventional sense. It is learnt that A R Rahman would do the background score.

Meanwhile, Santhosh of Cinema Paradiso, said the shop had joined hands with Virgin Records in the US. This would be the first tie-up of its kind in India, he claimed.

This would ensure that Cinema Paradiso would stock the titles the same day as that of the official release in the US. So no more waiting for one's favourite English flicks, says Santhosh.

R Rangaraj

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