Mani Ratnam is a South Indian director, writer, and producer. He was born on June 2, 1956, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. Mani Ratnam made his directorial debut with the Anil Kapoor and Lakshmi stared Kannada language movie Pallavi Anu Pallavi.
Although the movie bombed at the box office, Mani Ratnam bagged the Karnataka State Film Awards for Best Screenplay. He then made his Malayalam movie debut with Unaru, which was also a flop.
Mani Ratnam’s subsequent directorial ventures were Tamil films Pagal Nilavu (1985) and Idaya Kovil (1985), which again failed to impress the cinemagoers.
After giving a string of flops, Ratnam finally tasted commercial success with the romantic drama Mouna Ragam (1986). The movie starring Mohan and Revathi proved to be a major milestone in Ratnam`s career, as he took home his first Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Director.
Mani Ratnam then directed the romantic drama Saathiya (2002), the political drama Yuva (2004), and the biographical drama Guru (2007), which was loosely based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance Industries.
Saathiya and Guru found immense box-office success, with Yuva, failing commercially, in spite of having some flourishing performances. In 2015, Ratnam directed the blockbuster romantic drama film O Kadhal Kanmani.
The Tamil film starring Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen opened to positive reviews, with Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu writing, “O Kadhal Kanmani is something of a greatest-hits package of Mani Ratnam.”
Following the success of the film, it was later remade in Hindi as OK Jaanu (2017) directed by Shaad Ali. However, unlike the Tamil version, the film starring Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor received average critical reviews but managed to do well at the box office.
Mani Ratnam’s other release of the year includes the Tamil-language romantic thriller Kaatru Veliyidai starring Karthik Sivakumar, Aditi Rao Hydari and Rukmini Vijayakumar, Shraddha Srinath, and RJ Balaji in supporting roles.
The film is simultaneously dubbed in Telugu as Cheliyaa and also his direct new upcoming Tamil movie Ponniyin Selvan: Part 2 (2023) which will be released in 2023.
Ratnam has written most of his films excluding Unaru (1984), Idaya Kovil (1985), Dasarathan (1993), Nerrukku Ner (1997), and Five Star (2002). Ratnam has also produced films like Chatriyan (1990), Dasarathan (1993), Bombay (1995), Aasai (1995), Dumm Dumm Dumm (2001), and Five Star (2002).
Mani Ratnam’s 2017 release as a producer includes the official Bollywood remake of Mani Ratnam`s Tamil film O Kadhal Kanmani. Starring Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead, the movie is directed by Shaad Ali.
Following the success of the film, it was later remade in Hindi as OK Jaanu (2017) directed by Shaad Ali. However, unlike the Tamil version, the film starring Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor received average critical reviews but managed to do well at the box office.
His other release of the year includes the Tamil-language romantic thriller Kaatru Veliyidai starring Karthik Sivakumar, Aditi Rao Hydari and Rukmini Vijayakumar, Shraddha Srinath, and RJ Balaji.
Mani Ratnam tied the knot with the celebrated South Indian actress, Suhasini, in 1988. The couple has a son Nandhan, born in 1992.