Personal Info:
Name: Mani Ratnam
Real Name: Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam
Nick Name: Mani
Date Of Birth: 2 June 1956
Profession: Film Director, Producer, Screenwriter
Height: 5.4”
Social: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Biography:
Personal Life:
Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam was born on 2 June 1956, commonly known by his screen name Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil Movies. His father S.Gopala Ratnam was a movie distributor who worked for Venus Pictures, and his uncle “Venus’’ Krishnamurthy was a movie producer. His elder brother G.Venkateswaran would go on to produce some of Mani Ratnam movies. His younger brother is G.Srinivasan, who like Venkateswaran would also co-produced some of his movies. He grew up in Madras [now Chennai], along with his siblings and cousins. Despite being a movie family, the children were not allowed to watch movies as the elder considered them taboo.
 |
| Mani Ratnam and his wife suhasini |
When he was 15 years he discovered director K.Balachander and became a fan and upon did his schooling, he graduated with a degree in commerce from the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, affiliated to the Madras University. Later, he completed his Master of Business Administration [MBA] in finance from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, in Bombay. In 1977 He finishing his post-graduation, he was employed in a firm in Madras as a Management consultant and continued to work there for some time. In 1988 He married Suhasini, an established actress in South Indian Cinema. The couple has a son Nandhan [born in 1992] and the family resides in Alwarpet, Chennai, where he runs his production company, Madras Talkies.
 |
| Mani Ratnam and his wife and son |
Career:
He was not satisfied with his job as a consultant as he found it to be a mere extension of his academics. During this time his friend Ravi Shankar, son of director B.R.Panthulu, was in the process of making his first movie. Mani Ratnam took a sabbatical from his job in order to ensure his participation in the making of the movie. Being inexperienced, the makers were largely dependent upon the American Cinematographer magazine and the principal cast included Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish, Lakshmi, Srinath, and Roja Ramani. When the movie was about to begin in Kolar, Karnataka, He left his consulting job and joined the crew. Although not impressed with many of the movies made in Tamil cinema, he was ‘’Amazed’’ at [1977] P.Bharathiraja’s 16 Vayathinile, [1979] Uthiripookkal, [1975] K.Balachander’s Apoorva Raagangal and [1978] J.Mahendran’s Mullum Malarum. During this time, he befriended a group of people namely P.C.Sreeram, P.Vasu, and Santhana Bharathi who shared his interest of entering into the movie industry.
 |
| Mani Ratnam Movie |
He developed a script originally written in English into a movie and titled it Pallavi Anu Pallavi. His uncle Krishnamurthy agreed to produce the movie but imposed a condition that it should be made under a limited budget in Kannada, to which he agreed. For the male lead character, he cast Anil Kapoor after watching his performance in the Telugu movie Vamsa Vruksham [1980], and Lakshmi was signed up as the female lead role. The movie explored the relationship between a young man and an older woman. In 1986 He directed the Tamil romantic drama film Mouna Ragam, which starred Mohan and Revathi. Mouna Raagam Movie was subsequently dubbed into the Telugu language under the same-titled and became a hit in Andhra Pradesh as well and the movie elevated Mani’s status as a director, and he won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil at the 34th National Film Awards.
In 1987, He directed Nayakan starring Kamal Haasan, and the movie became a huge success and brought him recognition at the national level. In 1989, Telugu actor Nagarjuna requested Mani Ratnam to direct a Telugu movie with him in the main lead role, which he agreed to after initial reluctance. The movie Geethanjali which had Nagarjuna and Girija Shettar in the main lead role told the story of an ill-fated couple, both of whom are suffering from terminal diseases. In 2007 He made Guru, a biographical movie based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, a business magnate from India. In 2010, He worked on a bilingual movie, titled Raavanan in Tamil where in the movie look was unveiled at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, as part of its marketing campaign. In Hindi Raavan and the Tamil, version was dubbed into Telugu and named Villain.
Mani’s movie, Kadal was released worldwide on 1 February 2013 to mixed reviews from critics and became a box office failure. His next movie, Romantic drama O Kadhal Kanmani starring Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen as the lead pair, and the film was released in April 2015. Kaatru Veliyidai was released on 2017 April to mixed reviews and received an average box office return. Ponniyan Selvan is rumored to be a two-part movie, with part one being released in 2021, while filming is set to commence in early 2020. In 2002 The Government of India honored Mani Ratnam with Padma Shri Award. He has won several Filmfare Awards, National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards South, and state awards. Apart from these awards, many of his movies have been screened at various movie festivals and have won numerous accolades.
0 Comments