The suave business administrator-turned-filmmaker, Mani Ratnam, makes his money by transforming real life drama into reel life glitz. First, he dealt with the story of the Bombay underworld boss Varadaraja Mudaliar in Nayakan , then the kidnapping of IOC official Dorai swamy by Kashmiri militants in Roja and tackled the riots that shook the country's financial capital in Bombay . Naturally, when he launched his latest film, the rumour mill was abuzz. Some said he was profiling Indira Gandhi, others said it would be on the bloody conflict in neighbouring Sri Lanka.