Mani Ratnam turns 54, sky is the limit for his works

Mani Ratnam turns 54, sky is the limit for his works

Making it to the TIME's list of 100 best movies, along Satyajit Ray and Guru Dutt. Making two movies whose songs ended up in the world's top 10 most popular numbers. 54 seems to be a young age for film maker Mani Ratnam. Born in Madurai and graduating from Jamnala Bajaj Institute with a management degree, Mani Ratnam started his career as a management consultant.

Abandoning his management career at 27, Mani Ratnam explored film making as an assistant director in 1983 with the Kannada movie Pallavi Anu Pallavi. He remained an assistant director in Malayalam and Tamil movies for three more years, till he grabbed attention with Mouna Ragam. From those early years, Mani Ratnam had a weakness for Ilaiyaraaja, with whom he teamed up to offer many musicals with thought-provoking and equally entertaining content.

Mani Ratnam was frank enough to admit that he took inspiration from real life personalities and their lives. It was from Varadarajan Mudaliar for Nayagan, and from MGR and Karunanidhi for Iruvar. Hindu-Muslim riots in Bombay, and the Kashmir issue in Roja were also his works, which touched sensitive issues that have rocked India. Of late, Mani Ratnam has expanded his works by making bilingual movies, which have all featured in world renowned film festivals.

Galatta.com joins the versatile film maker's fans on his birthday to wish him more successes in the future.