Mani Ratnam is currently the most reputed director of South Indian films as well as Indian cinema. Each of his films is unique in style, with beautifully photographed song sequences. He has dealt with a wide variety of topics, from the classic Indian love story to political thrillers.
Coming from a film-family, Mani Ratnam’s father is producer Venus Gopalratnam and brother G Venkatasewaran distributor turned producer. He studied at Madras University and received a management degree at the Mumbai Bajaj Institute, and had initially started out as a management consultant. His first film, Pallav Anu Pallavi was released in 1983 and it won a state award from Karnataka Government. He got huge success in 1986 through his film Mouna Ragam. His next film Navakan the following year was so far held as his best. The lead actor Kamal Hasan won National Award for the film. His next three films Agni Nakshtram (1988), Gitanjali(1989) and Anjali (1990) were held in high esteem. The last one was India’s official entry for Oscar. It was Roja (1992) that made Mani Ratnam a household name in India. The film was dubbed in Hindi and was a huge success both commercially and critically. The film also saw the entry of A R Rehman as music composure. A R Rehman is, in fact, Mani Ratnam’s discovery. His Bumbai in 1995 was again a success. Iruvar, made in 1997, is a political film. His 2002 venture Kannathil Muthamittal was a runaway winner. Mani Ratnam’s entry in Hindi film started with Dil Se in 1998. This was also a huge success. His other Hindi films were Yuva and Guru. He is also a notable screenplay writer. He won Filmfare Award for his screenplay for Sathiyya.
Mani Ratnam’s films earned several awards. His Dil Se won Netpac Award from the Berlin Film Festival, Yuva and Bumbai got Filmfare Awards and Kannathil Muthamittal earned laurels from the RiverRun International Film Festival, Los Angeles Indian Film Festival and Jerusalem Film Festival in 2002. The film also won National Award. Mani Ratnam was conferred Padma Shree by the Government of India in 2002..
