ManiRatnamism

b. 1956

Timeline

From a Kannada debut in 1983 to Ponniyin Selvan — a career that redefined Indian cinema.

1950s

1956

Born in Madurai

Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam is born on June 2 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. He grows up in a family deeply rooted in Tamil culture, and later studies business administration at Narsee Monjee Institute in Mumbai before returning south to pursue cinema.

1980s
1983Film

Pallavi Anu Pallavi

Mani Ratnam's debut film — a Kannada romantic drama following a young man haunted by a sense of having loved someone before, leading him toward a woman who feels strangely familiar. Introduced his signature blend of intimate romance and visual lyricism.

1984Film

Unaroo

A Malayalam romantic drama and Mani Ratnam's second feature — continuing his early exploration of youthful love and longing, made before he established his base in Tamil cinema.

1985Film

Pagal Nilavu

An early Tamil romantic drama — one of two films Mani Ratnam released in 1985, alongside Idaya Kovil. A story of love and misunderstanding that showed a young director refining his craft.

1985Film

Idaya Kovil

Mani Ratnam's Tamil debut — a romantic drama about a young woman torn between love and social obligation. Marked his entry into Tamil cinema and introduced the visual and musical language that would define his career, with an Ilaiyaraaja score that became iconic.

1986Film

Mouna Raagam

A landmark Tamil romantic drama about Divya, still in love with a man who died, forced into an arranged marriage with Chander. Charts how two strangers become a couple through honesty, patience, and grief — one of Tamil cinema's most nuanced portrayals of marriage.

1987Film

Nayagan

Inspired loosely by The Godfather and the real life of Varadarajan Mudaliar — Nayagan traces a Tamil migrant boy who becomes a Dharavi crime lord through circumstance, loyalty, and loss. Kamal Haasan's defining performance. Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Greatest Films of All Time.

1988Film

Agni Natchathiram

A slick action drama about two half-brothers — one righteous, one volatile — locked in mutual hatred over their shared father's betrayal. Mani Ratnam's most commercially oriented film of the era, notable for its kinetic energy and Ilaiyaraaja's pulsing score.

1989Film

Geethanjali

A Telugu romantic tragedy about two terminally ill young people who fall in love, knowing their time is limited. One of the defining Telugu films of its decade — tender, funny, and heartbreaking. Ilaiyaraaja's score elevated it to something transcendent.

1990s
1990Film

Anjali

A deeply moving family drama about a neighbourhood's shifting relationship with Anjali — a mentally challenged child kept hidden by her family, then embraced by the community after her death. One of Indian cinema's most affecting portraits of difference, belonging, and collective grief.

1990Film

Chatriyan

Mani Ratnam's cinematographer P. C. Sreeram makes his directorial debut with a political action drama — produced and written by Mani Ratnam.

1991Film

Thalapathi

A modern retelling of the Mahabharata's Karna and Duryodhana — Surya (Rajinikanth) is a slum-raised loyalist who becomes the right hand of crime lord Devaraj (Mammootty). An epic of friendship, loyalty, and doom, set in Chennai's underworld with an Ilaiyaraaja score that defines the film.

1992Film

Roja

A young Tamil village woman fights to free her husband, a cryptographer kidnapped by Kashmiri militants. Roja brought political India into mainstream Tamil cinema with sensitivity and craft — and launched A. R. Rahman's film career with one of the most celebrated debut scores in Indian music history. National Award for Best Direction.

1993Film

Thiruda Thiruda

A freewheeling road-thriller comedy about two petty thieves who stumble upon a massive government currency heist — then find themselves hunted by both criminals and the state. Mani Ratnam's most purely entertaining film: kinetic, funny, and dazzlingly shot across India's landscapes.

1993Film

Gaayam

A Telugu crime drama directed by Ram Gopal Varma, based on a story by Mani Ratnam. A raw, violent exploration of power and gang warfare in a small town.

1993Film

Dasarathan

A Tamil film produced under Mani Ratnam's banner — an early example of his role as a producer supporting new filmmakers.

1994Milestone

Madras Talkies

Mani Ratnam establishes Madras Talkies, his production company. From Bombay onwards, nearly every film he directs is produced under this banner — giving him full creative control over his work.

1995Film

Bombay

A Hindu-Muslim love story set against the 1992–93 Bombay riots — Shekhar and Shaila Bano marry against their families' wishes, then struggle to hold their family together as communal violence tears the city apart. One of Indian cinema's most courageous films on religious hatred and the cost of division.

1995Film

Indira

Directed by Suhasini Maniratnam with a screenplay by Mani Ratnam. A drama about a woman navigating institutional corruption.

1995Film

Aasai

A Tamil psychological thriller directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. A suspenseful story of obsession that became one of 1995's biggest hits.

1997Film

Iruvar

A fictional account of the friendship and rivalry between two men — one a film star turned politician, the other a director — modelled on the relationship between M. G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi. Mani Ratnam's most ambitious film: sprawling, operatic, and technically dazzling, shot by Santosh Sivan in 70mm.

1997Film

Nerrukku Ner

A Tamil romantic drama directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. Two couples — one arranged, one love — navigate marriage and family expectations.

1998Film

Dil Se

A radio journalist falls obsessively in love with a mysterious woman he meets at a train station — not knowing she is a suicide bomber on a mission. Dil Se is Mani Ratnam's darkest and most surreal film: a meditation on desire, nationalism, and the wounds of India's insurgencies, with Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala.

1999Film

Taj Mahal

A Tamil romantic drama directed by Bharathiraja with a script by Mani Ratnam. Two creative forces of Tamil cinema collaborating on a love story.

2000s
2000Film

Alaipayuthey

A modern urban love story following Karthik and Shakti — two young people who fall in love, marry in secret against their families, then face the slow erosion of romance under the pressures of real life. Defined a generation's idea of contemporary Tamil romance; A. R. Rahman's score is among his greatest.

2001Film

Dumm Dumm Dumm

A Tamil romantic comedy produced and written by Mani Ratnam. A lighter register from a filmmaker known for dramatic intensity.

2002Film

Kannathil Muthamittal

A nine-year-old adopted Tamil girl, discovering she is adopted, insists on finding her biological mother in war-torn Sri Lanka. Her parents travel with her into an active conflict zone. One of the most emotionally complex films about the Sri Lankan civil war, adoption, and what it means to belong.

2002Film

Five Star

A Tamil drama produced by Mani Ratnam's Madras Talkies. Directed by Susi Ganeshan, exploring ambition and moral compromise.

2002Film

Saathiya

The Hindi adaptation of Alai Payuthey, produced and co-written by Mani Ratnam. Directed by his protégé Shaad Ali, with an A. R. Rahman score.

2002Milestone

Padma Shri

Awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India — India's fourth highest civilian honour — in recognition of his exceptional contribution to Indian cinema.

2004Film

Ayitha Ezhuthu

Three young men from different worlds — a student activist, a thug, and a rising politician's aide — collide in a single violent moment that changes all their lives. A structurally bold film told in triptych, simultaneously shot in Tamil as Ayitha Ezhuthu and in Hindi as Yuva with different casts.

2004Film

Yuva

The Hindi-language simultaneous remake of Ayitha Ezhuthu — same story, same structure, entirely different cast. Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, and Ajay Devgn play the three leads. Reached audiences who had never encountered Mani Ratnam's Tamil work and introduced his structural boldness to Hindi cinema.

2007Film

Guru

Inspired by the life of Dhirubhai Ambani — an ambitious village boy rises to build a business empire, bending rules at every turn and facing a reckoning before a public tribunal. Mani Ratnam's most expansive Hindi film: a portrait of post-Independence Indian capitalism, ambition, and the blurry line between vision and corruption. Abhishek Bachchan's career peak.

2010s
2010Film

Raavanan

A retelling of the Ramayana from Raavan's point of view — a tribal outlaw abducts a police officer's wife after his sister is wronged, and the line between villain and hero dissolves. Vikram plays the volatile Veera with terrifying physicality; Aishwarya Rai is the captive who begins to understand her captor. Shot simultaneously in Hindi as Raavan.

2010Film

Raavan

The Hindi-language simultaneous version of Raavanan — Abhishek Bachchan plays the outlaw Beera, Aishwarya Rai the captive Ragini. Reaches the same story through a different cultural register and a different lead performance, giving the Ramayana retelling a broader national audience.

2013Film

Kadal

A young orphan raised by a malevolent fisherman is caught between the man who shaped him through cruelty and the missionary who offers him redemption — a battle for a soul set against the sea. Mani Ratnam's most overtly spiritual film, with Arjun playing a career-best villain and A. R. Rahman delivering a soaring maritime score.

2015Film

OK Kanmani

Two young Mumbai professionals — a game designer and an architect, both committed to their careers above everything — fall in love and negotiate a relationship with no strings attached. Mani Ratnam's most contemporary and lightest film in years, a joyful portrait of millennial love framed by an elderly couple's enduring companionship.

2017Film

Kaatru Veliyidai

An Air Force pilot — charming, narcissistic, and emotionally destructive — is captured in Kargil and held as a POW. The film intercuts his captivity with the turbulent love story that preceded it: his relationship with the woman who loved him despite everything he put her through.

2017Film

Ok Jaanu

The Hindi adaptation of O Kadhal Kanmani, produced and co-written by Mani Ratnam. A second collaboration with Shaad Ali adapting one of his own Tamil films.

2018Film

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam

Three brothers fight for control of their crime family after their father is shot. A Tamil crime ensemble in the tradition of The Godfather — meticulous, cold, and operatic — with Santosh Sivan's cinematography and a cast that includes Arvind Swamy, Vijay Sethupathi, and Arun Vijay.

2020s
2020Film

Vaanam Kottattum

A Tamil family drama produced and written by Mani Ratnam. A father's release from prison and the fractured family he returns to — quiet, character-driven, and grounded.

2020Film

Putham Pudhu Kaalai

A Tamil anthology film produced by Mani Ratnam, set during the COVID-19 lockdown. Five short films exploring human connection in isolation — Mani Ratnam wrote and directed the segment 'Reunion'.

2021Film

Navarasa

A Tamil anthology series created and produced by Mani Ratnam. Nine episodes, each exploring one of the nine rasas (emotions) of classical Indian aesthetics — directed by nine different filmmakers.

2022Film

Ponniyin Selvan: I

The first part of Mani Ratnam's adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy's beloved 1955 Tamil historical novel — an epic of the Chola dynasty, court intrigue, and the struggle for succession. A decades-long dream project finally realised: the biggest Tamil film of its decade, shot across India and Sri Lanka with a massive ensemble cast.

2023Film

Ponniyin Selvan: II

The concluding part of the Ponniyin Selvan adaptation — secrets are revealed, alliances fracture, and the fate of the Chola empire is decided. Aishwarya Rai's Nandini takes centre stage in a performance that anchors the entire two-part epic. The culmination of Mani Ratnam's most ambitious undertaking.

2023

Padma Bhushan

Awarded the Padma Bhushan — India's third highest civilian honour — at 66, capping four decades of work that redefined Tamil and Indian cinema's reach and ambition.

2025Film

Thug Life

Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan reunite for the first time since Nayagan (1987) — an action drama about a man living a double life, with loyalties that run deeper than blood. Nearly four decades after their defining collaboration, two masters of Tamil cinema return to each other.