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Overview

Birth Name:

Gopalaratnam Subramaniam

Born June 02, 1956 (1956-06-02)
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India

Occupation Film director, film producer, screenwriter
Website http://www.madrastalkies.com
Banner: Madras Talkies
Mani Ratnam (Tamil: மணி ரத்னம்) (born June 2, 1956) is a critically acclaimed Tamil Indian film director, writer and producer.

BIOGRAPHY

Early life
Ratnam was born as G. Subramaniam on June 2, 1956, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. After graduating with a degree in commerce from Madras University and an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, he embarked on a career as a management consultant before becoming a filmmaker. He got into film direction with the help of his late brother, film producer G. Venkateswaran.

Career
Mani Ratnam's films often feature realistic, contemporary themes and complex plots. With a career spanning over two decades, he has garnered high acclaim and has been praised for handling serious issues whilst retaining entertainment values in his films. Familial and marital hardships, terrorism, love, class and religious conflict, war, politics, adoption, history and disability are just some of the socio-political issues to have been featured in his films. His movies are generally made in the Tamil language, but are usually also dubbed into other languages like Telugu and Hindi owing to their national appeal. He has also made films in other languages like Hindi, Telugu and Kannada. Mani Ratnam's first film was a Kannada one, in which Anil Kapoor made his debut. Pallavi Anu Pallavi is a film that explores a relationship between an older woman and a young man. He followed this with the love-themed Mouna Raagam, a critical hit and his first box-office success. Nayakan was released in 1987. Through the 1990s and early 2000s, his output has included many acclaimed and commercial successes including Roja (1992), Bombay (1995) and Kannathil Muthamittal (2002). His most recent picture, released in 2007, is Guru.

In 2002, Mani Ratnam was awarded the Padma Shri.

In 1994, a retrospective of his Tamil films was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). His movie Nayakan was part of Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies issued in 2005.

FILMOGRAPHY

The following is the list of films directed by Mani Ratnam. For many of these movies, Mani Ratnam is also credited for the story, screenplay and producing:

Director

Year: 1983.
Film: Pallavi Anu Pallavi.
Language: Kannada.
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Lakshmi.
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes: Dubbed into Tamil as "Oh! Priya Priya."

Year: 1985.
Film: Unaru.
Language: Malayalam.
Cast: Mohanlal, Sukumaran, Sabina Jose.
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes:

Year: 1985.
Film: Pagal Nilavu.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Murali, Revathi Menon, Radhika Sarath Kumar, Sathyaraj.
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes:

Year: 1985.
Film: Idaya Kovil.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Mohan, Radha, Ambika, Goundamani.
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes:

Year: 1986.
Film: Mouna Raagam.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Mohan, Revathi, Karthik.
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes: Dubbed into Telugu as "Mouna Raagam."

Year: 1987.
Film: Nayagan.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Kamal Haasan, Saranya, Nassar, Janagaraj.
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes: Dubbed into Hindi as "Nayak." Dubbed into Telugu as "Nayakudu."

Year: 1988.
Film: Agni Natchathiram.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Prabhu, Karthik, Vijayakumar, Prabhu Deva, Amala, Janagaraj, Jayachitra
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes: Dubbed into Telugu as "Gharshana."

Year: 1989.
Film: Geethanjali.
Language: Telugu.
Cast: Nagarjuna, Girija, Vijayakumar,
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes: Dubbed into Tamil as "Idhayathai Thirudathey." Dubbed into Malayalam as "Geethanjali."

Year: 1990.
Film: Anjali.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Raghuvaran, Revathi, Prabhu, Tarun Kumar, Shamili, Shruti, Saranya.
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes: Dubbed into Telugu as "Anjali."

Year: 1991.
Film: Thalapathi.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Rajinikanth, Mammooty, Arvind Swamy, Amrish Puri, Sobhana, Bhanupriya, Srividya, Geetha, Jaishankar.
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja.
Notes: Dubbed into Telugu as "Dalapati." Dubbed into Hindi as "Dal-pati."

Year: 1992.
Film: Roja.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Arvind Swamy, Madhubala, Pankaj Kapoor, Nassar, Janagaraj.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into English as "The Rose." Dubbed into Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi as "Roja."

Year: 1993.
Film: Thiruda Thiruda.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Prashanth, Anand, Heera Rajgopal, Anu Agarwal, Balasubrahmanyam.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into Hindi as "Chor Chor." Dubbed into Telugu as "Donga Donga."

Year: 1995.
Film: Bombay.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Arvind Swamy, Manisha Koirala, Nassar, Prakash Raj.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into Hindi and Telugu as "Bombay."

Year: 1997.
Film: Iruvar.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Mohanlal, Aishwarya Rai, Prakash Raj, Madhubala, Tabu, Revathi, Gouthami, Nassar.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into Telugu as "Iddaru."

Year: 1998.
Film: Dil Se.
Language: Hindi.
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into Tamil as "Uyire." Dubbed into Telugu as "Prema Tho."

Year: 2000.
Film: Alaipayuthey.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Madhavan, Shalini. Arvind Swamy, Kushboo, Vivek, Sukumarim, Lalitha, Jayasudha, Pyramid Natarajan.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into English as "Waves." Dubbed into Telugu as "Sakhi." Remade into Hindi as "Saathiya."

Year: 2002.
Film: Kannathil Muthamittal.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Madhavan, Simran, Nandita Das, Keerthana, Prakash Raj, Pasupathy.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into English as "A Peck on the Cheek." Dubbed into Telugu as "Amrutha."

Year: 2004.
Film: Aayitha Ezhuthu.
Language: Tamil.
Cast: Madhavan, Surya Sivakumar, Siddharth Narayan, Meera Jasmine, Esha Deol, Trisha, Bharathiraja, Janagaraj.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into Telugu as "Yuva." Dubbed into English as "The Three Dots."

Year: 2004.
Film: Yuva.
Language: Hindi.
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukherjee, Esha Deol, Kareena Kapoor, Om Puri.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes:

Year: 2007.
Film: Guru.
Language: Hindi.
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan, Vidya Balan, Mallika Sherawat, Mithun Chakraborty.
Music Director: A. R. Rahman.
Notes: Dubbed into Tamil as "Guru." Dubbed into Telugu as "Gurukanth."

Non-Director

Mani Ratnam established Madras Talkies for film production during the shoot of Iruvar. Mani Ratnam had earlier produced Thiruda Thiruda under his personal name. All movies directed by Mani Ratnam subsequent to Iruvar have been produced through Madras Talkies. Apart from production, Mani Ratnam also has written story and screenplay for movies directed by others.

Indira (1996) - Screenplay (Movie was directed by his wife Suhasini)
Gayam (1993) - Story & Screenplay (Telugu Movie)
Chatriyan - Story & Screenplay
Tajmahal - Story & Screenplay
Aasai (1995) - Producer
Nerrukku Ner (1997) - Producer (Madras Talkies)
Dumm Dumm Dumm (2001) - Story & Screenplay
Saathiya (2002) - Screenplay (Movie is a re-make of Alaipayuthey and was directed by his assistant Shaad Ali) and Producer (Madras Talkies)
Five Star (2003) - Producer (Madras Talkies)

STAGE
Netru, Indru, Naalai (2006)

FAMILY
Mani's father Gopal Ratnam Iyer was a film producer.
Mani's brother late G. Venkateswaran, popularly known as G.V. was a noted film producer.
Mani married to actress Suhasini, niece of Kamal Haasan and they have a 15-year old son Nandan.
Mani co-founded and co-runs the independent production company Madras Talkies along with his other brother G. Srinivasan. Srinivasan passed away in Manali on the 27th May 2007 by slipping into a gorge.

THEMES
Mani Ratnam oftens makes movies inspired by real-life events, Nayagan based on Mumbai Under world, Kannathil Muthamittal based on war-torn Sri Lanka and Aayitha Ezhuthu based on student unrest in Osmania University.
His movies often portray strong friendship, Rajni-Mammooty in Thalapathi, Surya-Siddarth in Aayitha Ezhuthu, Mohanlal-Prakash Raj in Iruvar and Kamal-Janakaraj in Nayagan.
He also revels in creating on screen relationship tangles like Rajini-Shobana-Arvind Swamy in Thalapathi, Karthic-Revathi-Mohan in Mouna Ragam and Prabhu-Karthic in Agni Natchathiram
He has shot almost all of his movies in India and rarely travelled outside. His first foreign shooting was for the film Guru.

TRIVIA
In all his movies, marriage happened to be an accidental. Majority of his films rooted to a place in Tirunelveli District.

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A touching story about Vijay (Anil Kapoor) and his relationship with two women. Having pledged his love for Madhu (Kiran Vairale), Vijay finds himself entwined in a close friendship with Anu (Lakshmi), a married woman separated from her husband. Vijay grapples with the definition of love, treading the fine line between trust and attraction, amid tremendous societal pressures. He's confused whether he loves Anu, an older woman, yet knows there is Madhu ready to accept him as a husband. Amid all this is his youthful streak of rebellion, ready to take on the world despite the taboos attached.

Mani Ratnam captures the mood of the '80s quite brilliantly, bringing out the angst that several men confronted. He deftly handles a sensitive issue like divorce - at a time when South India hadn't come to terms with it - blending it beautifully with educational dilemmas and working pressures. Illayaraja's magical melody brings several scenes alive while Balu Mahendra's photography sets a template for several Mani Ratnam films (like Agni Nakshatram) in years to come. The depiction of Bangalore and Markara - two places where the movie is set - adds a fine texture to the narrative.

There are also several sub-plots - the relationship between Madhu and her father, between Anu and her son, between Vijay and his parents - that are weaved in seamlessly. The climax arrives gradually and the full effect is felt in the last scene, when one is told that all stories don't necessarily end in fairy tales. All in all, a masterpiece from the early '80s and, like most of Mani Ratnam's classics, a film that's way ahead of its time. A debut most memorable.