Mani Ratnam is one of the topmost directors in Indian cinema. He hails from Tamil Nadu and has mostly done Tamil movies in his career and very few Hindi and Telugu movies. Some of his works are featured in several International film festivals and he has received several National and state awards. He is also a Padma Shri award winner.
He is best known for his technical brilliance in film making and many critics call him as the reformer of Tamil Cinema. He was the first director to introduce many technical aspects into film making process. He has delivered close to 7 industry hits in his career and most of his blockbusters have come with Ilaiyaraja as the music director.
Even though Mani Rathnam has made around 30 films in his life, most of them were classic hits and this is the reason, why he has such a big name in the industry. He is currently making Ponniyan Selvan movie on a lavish scale and is likely to be released in 2022. Some of his noted works include Nayakan, Anjali, Roja and Thalapathy.
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Age
Mani Ratnam was born on the 2nd of June 1956 in Madurai region of Tamil Nadu. Mani Ratnam’s current age is 67 years. His birth name is Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam but popularly called Mani Ratnam.
Wiki | Biography
Mani Ratnam belongs to a Tamil Brahmin family based in Madurai. He spent his childhood in Chennai as his family had moved to the city. Mani completed his primary education from Besant Theosophical School in Chennai. Interestingly, he was not allowed to watch films during his childhood even though his family is full of film makers.
The family atmosphere was very strict and he grew up in a joint family. His father and uncle who were part of Venus productions thought that children should be kept away from films. Mani Ratnam however developed interest in films after watching films of K Balachander. Mani completed his graduation from Ramakrishna Mision Vivekananda College.
He was interested in studies and went to Mumbai to complete his Masters Graduation in Finance. He did MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management in 1977. He began working as a management consultant but soon got into films. Even though he failed in the initial stages, he got success later and became one of the best directors in the country.
| Full Name | Mani Ratnam |
| Nickname | Mani |
| Date of Birth | 2 June 1956 |
| Age | 62 (as of 2023) |
| Birthplace | Madurai, Tamil Nadu |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Profession | Film Director, Producer and Screenwriter |
| Zodiac sign / Sun sign | Gemini |
| Famous For | Movies |
| School | NA |
| College | amakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Madras University Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai |
| Educational Qualifications | Master of Business Administration (MBA) |
| Debut | Pallavi Anu Pallavi |
| Years Active | NA |
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Family
Mani Ratnam hails from a family of film makers. His father was a film distributer for Venus Pictures. His father’s name is Gopala Ratnam. Mani’s mother is a homemaker. He also has two brothers G Venkateshwaran who is a film producer and G Srinivasan who is also into film making. Mani Ratnam’s uncle is Venus Krishnamurthy who owned Venus Productions.
| Father Name | Gopala Ratnam |
| Uncel Name | Venus Krishnamurthy |
| Brother Name | G Venkateshwaran, G Srinivasan |
| Sister Name | Not Known |
Girlfriend, Wife, Relationships
Mani Ratnam is married to Suhasini. The couple got married in the year 1988 and they have a son named Nandan who is 30 years old. Mani Ratnam’s son is currently handling Mani Ratnam’s production unit Madras Talkies since few years. Mani’s wife Suhasini is also a film actress and is closely related to actor Kamal Hassan.
| Marital Status | Married |
| Affairs / Girlfriend | Not Known |
| Wife Name | Suhasini |
| Marriage date | 1988 |
| Children | Nandan |
Physical Appearance
Mani Ratnam looks very decent and is often seen in formal clothing. He stands tall at 5.6 feet and weighs around 70 kgs. He has grey hair and is usually seen with a small moustache and beard. He also wears specs most of the time. He has a dark complexion and a vibrant smile.
| Weight(approx.) | Kilograms- 70 Kg Weight in Pounds- 154 lbs |
| Height(approx.) | Centimeters – 167 cm Inches – 5 ft 6 in Meter – 1.67 m |
| Figure Measurements (approx.) | 32-26-32 |
| Shoe Size | 8 |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Black |
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Career
Mani Ratnam initially started his career in a small company as a Management Consultant. He worked for few years but got bored of the job. He took a bold decision to quit his job and joined his friend Ravi Shankar to make a film in Kannada. Interestingly, even Ravi Shankar hailed from a filmy family and he was son of BR Pantulu.
They associated with Raman who was Balachander’s son to make a film starring Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish and Srinath in lead roles. However, they could not complete the film due to their inexperience and many other hurdles. Mani Ratnam later developed a script and made his first film Pallavi Anupallavi in Kannada with Anil Kapoor as hero.
Interestingly, Venus Krishnamurthy who was Mani Ratnam’s uncle produced the movie and it was made on limited budget. Luckily Mani was able to get the best technical crew including Balu Mahendra, Thota Tharani and Ilaiyaraja for his first project. The film failed at the box office but Mani Ratnam got the Karnataka State Film Award for the movie.
His next film was a Malayalam film titled Unaroo which also failed at box office. It was followed by two more flops in Tamil including Pagal Nilavu and Idaya Kovil. However, his direction and story telling ability was appreciated by audience and critics. He got his first big break with Mouna Ragam in 1986.
Mouna Ragam is still considered a classic love story and it had Mohan and Revathi in lead roles. Ilaiyaraja gave wonderful songs and it is still popular in Tamil. The film was dubbed into Telugu later and it also became a huge hit. This established Mani Ratnam in the industry and he won his first National award for the movie.
The period from 1986 to 1992 is considered as the golden period for Tamil cinema as Mani Ratnam delivered back to back industry hits and won several National Awards and State Awards. He won nearly 20 awards in this period. In the year 1987, he adapted the story of Godfather into a Tamil movie starring Kamal Hassan.
The movie Nayakan was also based on the story of Mumbai Don Varadaraj Mudaliar. This became a huge hit in Tamil and Telugu. It entered into the Time Magazine’s All Time Best 100 movies which is a rare honour for Indian movies. This one movie won 3 National Awards and still stands as a classic.
Mani Ratnam got international recognition after Nayakan was featured in many International film festivals. He later made huge hits like Agni Nakshatram in Tamil and Geetanjali in Telugu. Even Geetanjali won him a National Award. His next big hit was Anjali which had a child artist as the main protagonist. It also won him the National Award.
This was followed by blockbusters like Thalapathy and Roja. Interestingly, Mani Ratnam was associated with music director Ilaiyaraja till Thalapathy and later moved to AR Rahman. Mani Ratnam gave the first opportunity to Rahman who later became a big music director. After that movie, Mani Ratnam has continued with Rahman for all his projects till date.
After Roja, Mani Ratnam lost his magical touch and his films did not become huge industry hits. Some films were successful at the box office but did not win him any prominent awards. He worked with Shah Rukh Khan in Dilse and also made another Hindi film Bombay. He later made a film titled Guru featuring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.
Mani Ratnam has recently worked on hits like OK Kanmani and Chekka Chivanta Vanam. In between, he also got into production and made few films in Tamil. He also supported his wife to get into film direction and the movie Indira was produced under his home banner Madras Talkies. Yet another hit movie in his career was Alaipayuthey which brought R Madhavan into limelight.
Net Worth
The net worth of Mani Ratnam is around $15 million. He has earned a lot of money through his work in the film industry. He has made around 30 films as a director and producer. Many of his films became industry hits when they were released and he is counted amongst the best directors in the country. He owns properties in Tamil Nadu and other regions. He has several luxury cars and a caravan.
| Money Factor | |
| Net Worth | $15 Million |
Facts and Information
Mani Ratnam is not controversial but has still faced hurdles on many occasions. After the movie Roja was released, some people had bombed his home and he even suffered injuries in the blast.
He suffered from health problems in recent years and had a heart attack. He is doing fine after treatment.