Legendary filmmaker Mani Ratnam celebrates 65th birthday
South Indian director, who has led stirring films such as ‘Roja’ and ‘Bombay’, turns 65
Celebrated Indian director Mani Ratnam turned 65 on June 2 and fans who love his works — including ‘Bombay’, ‘Dil Se’, ‘Alaypayuthe’ — are flooding social media with happy birthday wishes.
Ratnam is one of South India’s most beloved filmmakers. His movies such as ‘Bombay’ and ‘Roja’ elevated storytelling into a fine craft and are painfully poignant. He has worked with the biggest South Indian and Bollywood stars including R Madhavan, Aravind Swamy, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Ratnam completed 38 years in the industry this year and he’s currently working on ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, based on the novel of the same name. The hashtag of this film began trending on his birthday.
Every actor who has worked with Ratnam tends to speak about the director in superlative terms.
In an earlier interview with Gulf News while promoting her film with Ratnam titled ‘Raavan’, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan claimed she entered films due to the director. Her first film was a Ratnam-directed political saga ‘Iruvar’ with Mohanlal.
“I would not have been in films if not for Mani sir. There was a point when I didn’t know whether to pursue film or to continue my studies. But then I got a call from Mani sir asking me to come to Chennai for a project and the rest is history. I am here in the world of films because of him,” said Rai Bachchan.
Another actress Aditi Rao Hydari, who worked with Ratnam in his Tamil romance ‘Kaatru Veliyidai’, claimed working with the filmmaker is on every talent’s bucket list.
“My lifelong dream to work with Mani Ratnam has come true ... Working with him is like a booster shot of vitamins,” said Hydari in 2017.