Mani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam at the premiere of Raavan in 2010
Born	Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (1956-06-02) 2 June 1956 (age 56) Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India[1][2]
Residence	Alwarpet, Chennai, India
Occupation	Film director Film producer Screenwriter
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Suhasini (1988–present)

Mani Ratnam (born Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam on 2 June 1956) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema, based in Chennai, India. Born into a Tamil Brahmin family in Madurai, Ratnam worked as a management consultant before entering into the film industry. He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi in 1983, and followed this with the Malayalam film Unaru (1984) and the Tamil film Pagal Nilavu (1985). Ratnam came into prominence after Mouna Ragam (1986), a film about the friction between a newly–wed couple. He made his Telugu debut with the National Film Award winning Geethanjali (1989), which was critically acclaimed and a major commercial success. Ratnam is also known for his "Terrorism trilogy" consisting of Roja (1992), Bombay (1995) and Dil Se.. (1998). He is widely regarded as one of the leading directors in Indian cinema.^[3] Ratnam is widely credited with having revolutionised the Tamil film industry and altering the profile of Indian cinema.^[4]

Ratnam's Nayagan (1987) and Anjali (1990) were submitted by India for the Academy Award consideration in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.^[5] His Tamil film Nayagan along with Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955-1959) and Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957) are the only Indian films to have appeared in Time magazine's All-Time 100 Greatest Movies.^[6]

Ratnam is married to actress Suhasini. In 2002 he was honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award given by the Government of India. Ratnam has won several film awards, including six National Film Awards. In addition to these, he is a recipient of a number of awards at various International film festivals. He has also been instrumental in organizing Netru, Indru, Naalai, a stage musical which has helped mentally affected women and children.

Early life and background[link]

Mani Ratnam with his wife Suhasini.

Mani Ratnam was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.^[2][7] His birth name is Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam.^[8] His father, Ratnam Iyer, was a film producer who worked under the banner of production company, Venus Pictures.^[9] Ratnam grew up in Chennai,^[10] doing his schooling there completed his graduation with a degree in commerce from Madras University, Chennai^[11] and then obtained an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies,^[12] after which he worked as a management consultant before becoming a filmmaker.^[4]

Ratnam had two brothers—G. Venkateswaran and G. Srinivasan—both of them film producers. The former was a prominent personality who produced many of Ratnam's films, including Mouna Ragam, Nayagan, Agni Natchathiram, Thalapathi, and Anjali,^[4] later committed suicide in 2003, reportedly because of financial problems.^[13][9] His younger brother, G. Srinivasan died in an accident while trekking in Manali on 27 May 2007.^[14] In 1988 Ratnam married Suhasini, the niece of Kamal Haasan and daughter of Charuhasan.^[15][16] Suhasini is a National Award-winning actress and a well-known filmmaker as well.^[16] They have a son named Nandhan.^[17] Charuhasan, his father-in-law,^[18] is a National Award-winning actor.^[19] Ratnam lives in Alwarpet, Chennai, where he runs Madras Talkies, his production company.^[20][21]