Thiruda Thiruda, 1993
Director: Mani Ratnam

In Thiruda Thiruda, there is a concept of a light show in a song. It is almost like the son et lumiere you see in New Delhi. The concept was that the light had to dance in sync with the music.

After the first day’s shoot, I realised that planning was very important for that song. As we didn’t have automatic control panels, the light was not in sync with the music.

Raju Sundaram was the choreographer and the song was picturised on Anu Agarwal and a group of dancers. I told Raju to make the dancers dance with the control panel. For example, as they danced, they would bring the dimmer from zero to 19. As they were in rhythm, they could control the light in sync with the music. Once we achieved that, dance and light went on smoothly and beautifully.

This song sequence is much talked about even today. Many have forgotten the film, but not the song.