On the occasion of his birthday, let’s recall his illustrious career and how he has managed to stay relevant all these years.
It would not be wrong to say that Mani Ratnam is one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema and his genius filmmaking is unmatched. Starting off his career in 1983 with the Kannada romantic drama Pallavi Anu Pallavi, he has managed to carve a niche for himself and established himself as a legendary Tamil filmmaker. In fact, several sought-after talents of Tamil films, including Gautham Vasudev Menon and Karthik Subbaraj, have termed Mani Ratnam and his films as an inspiration.
Known for his love stories and well-crafted dramas, Mani Ratnam still gives a stiff competition to the finest talents of cinema despite being 69 years of age. So on the occasion of his birthday, let’s recall his illustrious career and how he has managed to stay relevant all these years.
Do you know Mani Ratnam made his directorial debut without learning filmmaking? Well, he was just 27 at the time and an MBA holder. Born as Gopalaratnam Subramaniam, he left his career as a management consultant behind to make films and the rest is history. Reportedly, he was inspired by K Balachander's films to become a director.
He kicked off his film career with Pallavi Anu Pallavi, which starred Anil Kapoor and Lakshmi in the lead roles. However, it was not until the 1986-released romantic drama Mounaragam with Revathy, Mohan, and Karthik in the lead roles that it got widespread love and attention. With his films, he dealt with unconventional themes, and his Malayalam films Unaru, Pagal Nilavu, and Idaya Kovil, too captivated the audience.
With Kamal Haasan-starring epic crime drama Nayakan, which released in 1987, he established himself as one of the finest Tamil filmmakers. The film, which was based on the life of the real-life don Varadaraja Mudaliar, was reportedly inspired by the Hollywood film The Godfather. Later, he impressed the audience by directing family drama Agni Natchathiram apart from the tragic romance film Geethanjali. His other iconic films include Thalapathi, Roja, Thiruda Thiruda, Bombay, Iruvar, and Dil Se.
The romantic thriller Roja (1992) follows the life of a simple girl from Tamil Nadu, making efforts to find her husband after he is kidnapped by militants in Jammu and Kashmir while on a secret undercover mission. The film bagged three National Film Awards, and led Mani Ratnam to national acclaim. Roja was the first in Mani Ratnam's trilogy of films, before Bombay (1995) and Dil Se.. (1998). With Roja, he ended his longtime association with maestro Ilaiyaraaja, and launched a young talent named AR Rahman. Together, till date, they are the most iconic director-music composer duo in Tamil cinema.
When he came up with his romantic drama Alaipayuthey (2000), he surprised the audience, and continued doing so with his other path-breaking films Kannathil Mutthamittal, Aayutha Ezhuthu, Guru, and more.
In his mid-60s, the legendary filmmaker left the audience asking for more when he finally made his dream project Ponniyin Selvan and pulled an ensemble cast and crew.
Moving ahead, he is all set to reunite with his Nayakan leading actor Kamal Haasan for their next cinematic outing Thug Of Life. Co-written by Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam, the film also stars Trisha Krishnan, Sanya Malhotra, Abhirami, Ashok Selvan, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi, Rohit Saraf, and Vaiyapuri. The film, which promises to be a cinematic spectacle and an emotional project, will release on Jun 5, 2025.
