Birthday Special: Best of Mani Ratnam’s Pan-indian films

Mani Ratnam is a well-known and well-respected director in India. He is one of the biggest in the South and much loved for his humbleness and his dedication to his craft. Before SS Rajamouli, Mani Ratnam gave the Hindi film industry pan-Indian movies like Dil Se, Roja, and Bombay. The best directors each have their own distinctive style of conveying stories.

His characters are typically easy to identify with and are relatable. He is a master filmmaker because of his visual storytelling technique, in which even the objects and light in the frame reflect the emotion of a scene. Not only are his stories unforgettable, but so are his actors, music, and even the background scores. His films can make you both laugh and cry. 

Today is Mani Ratnam’s birthday, and social media is flooded with birthday messages for the adored filmmaker. He has produced a number of classics that will live on in the memories of ardent movie fans everywhere. Let’s look at some of his best Pan-Indian films on this momentous occasion, which have raised the bar for upcoming directors.

Mani Ratnam wrote and directed this romantic suspense movie. It follows Roja, a simple woman from a Tamil Nadu village, as she makes desperate attempts to locate her husband after he is taken hostage by militants while on a covert mission in Jammu and Kashmir. Roja, which was based on actual events surrounding the Kashmir insurgency, enjoyed tremendous success throughout India. 

This is a Tamil drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam which found tremendous success in the Hindi belt as well. In their village, Shekar, a Hindu boy, and Shaila, a Muslim girl, fell in love. As their families are against their romance, they elope to Bombay and get married. Their families decide to put their differences behind them and come together after a while. Shaila takes care of the house while Shekar works as a news reporter. They soon have twin boys. The happiness, however, is fleeting as Hindu and Muslim riots break out in Bombay following the destruction of the Babri Masjid, severing the family.

Guru, another successful film by Mani Ratnam, starred Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. A straightforward man from a small hamlet who travels to Bombay with his wife and a luggage full of hopes was the subject of the movie. The narrative then tracks his development into India’s largest businessman.

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played the key roles in Raavan as well. The movie was first produced in Tamil and Telugu before being released in Hindi. In the tale Raavan, a bandit kidnaps the wife of an officer and later falls in love with her. She falls in love with him after he finally releases her, and her husband later uses her as a scapegoat to catch the bandit. This was Mani Ratnam’s own interpretation of the epic Ramayana; he attempted to convey the tale through Ravana’s perspective in a modern setting.

Mani Ratnam’s 27th film is Ponniyin Selvan: It was dubbed in Hindi from the original Tamil version. Ponniyin Selvan dramatises the early years of Arunmozhi Varman who went on to become the famous emperor Rajaraja I (947–1014). To carry a message from the crown prince Aditha Karikalan, Vandiyathevan travels throughout the Chola land in the movie. The second film tells Nandini’s back story and gives a context to her character.