Manju Ramanan is the founder and owner of Manju Ramanan Talks.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Manju Ramanan is an Indian Editor and cross content specialist based in Dubai who, after moving to the UAE, created five coffee table books on the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah while being the Editor of magazines such as RAK Today, Ajman Today and (Deputy Editor) UAE Digest. One of her coffee table books, Golden Tribute, on His Highness Sheikh Saqr Al Qasimi, the late Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, won accolades from the Swiss Consulate and the Royal family alike. In 2011, she joined Filmfare Middle East as Editor, while covering several Bollywood events and press conferences.

Some of the star-studded events she was a part of included the premiere of The Dirty Picture (starring Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi) at the Grand Cineplex, Dubai, and the press conference of the film Mausam starring Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor that was held ‘At The Top’ of Burj Khalifa. In 2021, Ramanan organised the Filmfare ME Achiever’s Night at the Meydan Hotel, which saw about 40 Bollywood stars perform and receive felicitations.

 Manju Ramanan with late Indian actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Making history for the very first time was Arab celebrity, the Egyptian actor and music sensation Mohamed Ramadan, performing at a Filmfare event. An ardent saree wearer and lover, Ramanan also organised the Dubai Women’s Run in 2017, where she motivated 33 Indian women to run five kilometres, in cotton handloom sarees! She is also a playwright, having successfully written and staged the satirical Just Like That, with co-writer Asad Raza Khan.

She has translated Irshad Kamil’s book Kaali Aurat Ka Khaab (The Black Woman’s Dreams), from Hindi to English. She has also anchored television shows and live events and is the founder and owner of Manju Ramanan Talks, a platform for her interviews of celebrities from Bollywood, Hollywood and the Middle East. She supports women led businesses. Manju Ramanan supports Gulf Today with her answers

You were representing Filmfare in the Gulf region.Tell us about your work there.

I joined Filmfare Middle East in the year 2011. I built the brand from scratch and gave it a Middle East flavour by partnering with the Dubai Film Festival, promoting local film talent, typing up with film production houses for film premieres and activations — The Dirty Picture, Mausam, Rocky Handsome and more. I interviewed Bollywood, South Indian, Arab and Pakistani celebrities on a daily basis and ensured that there was buzz about the Middle East edition in this region. We did cover shoots, cover launches and events.

 Manju Ramanan (right) with Indian actor and filmmaker Huma Qureshi.

In 2015, we did the FilmfareME5, where I got five iconic celebrities to be part of our 5th year celebration. Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Nivin Pauly, Ali Mostafa and Fawad Khan were invited for the memorable event at the Fort Island, Madinat Jumeirah. The magazine shut in 2017; however, the Chairman of Danube, Rizwan Sajan, keen of working with film stars, called me and we started the magazine again in 2018. We also launched Femina Middle East and I became the Group Editor of the publication.

You are now a YouTuber, well-known for your celebrity interviews. What are the qualities they share?

I am just starting with Manju Ramanan Talks, my talk show on my YouTube channel. I enjoy talking to people - and celebrities are people after all. It isn’t easy to be a celeb and be judged every minute of one’s life! It is fascinating to see how so many of them are so real and relatable.

Which are the languages you are comfortable in? How did you achieve fluency in them?

I can speak English and Hindi fluently and these are my comfort languages. I was raised in Gujarat State, India, so I can read, write and speak Gujarati. Tamil is my mother tongue and I speak it though I can’t read and write Tamil. I follow Malayalam, since I was born in Trivandrum, Kerala, and my parents speak it too. And Marathi, because Vadodara, my hometown in Gujarat, speaks Marathi as well.

You recently attended a three-day Jashn-e-Rekhta (Celebrating Urdu) in New Delhi. Give us some highlights of the event.

The three days at Rekhta was pure magic. It was a festival of Urdu literature, poetry, art, culture and more. It was held at the Dhyanchand Stadium and had poetry and art sessions with Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Dia Mirza, Muzaffar Ali, Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah and many more. It had Sufi music, qawaalis, songs, dance performances, Urdu shayiri (poetry) sessions of senior poets as well as newbies.

It was a treat to the senses and what was heart-warming was that over 80 percent of the attendees were college going kids. There was food, instagrammable corners, Urdu quotes and quotations, books sold - all mixed with the chill of the Delhi winter — so you can imagine the ambience!

What attracts you to the Urdu language? How did you learn it?

I love the culture in the language and since I am multilingual, I try and find word parallels in the languages I know. I didn’t learn Urdu; it just happened to me and I don’t claim to know it properly either. I am a very curious fan of Urdu. Maybe it started with Hindi film song lyrics and Jagjit Singh ghazals, and then my deep interest in poetry since I am a student of literature - I was easy to ensnare. (A ghazal is a lyric poem with a fixed number of verses and a repeated rhyme, normally set to music).