Today is the 40th birthday of director Mohan Raja who made his directorial debut. IndiaGlitz wishes a very Happy Birthday for this immensely talented filmmaker of the present generation in Kollywood. We also pray for his personal well being and a long life filled with happiness.

Among the Kollywood directors who have emerged after the dawn of the millennium, Raja holds the record of almost 90% success rate. In other words seven out of eight films he has directed so far have been successful at the box office.

Born as the elder son of noted Editor Mohan, Raja made his directorial debut in 2001 with the Telugu flick 'Hanuman Junction' which was a super hit. Then he entered Kollywood with the Tamil remake of the Telugu super hit 'Jayam' and struck gold with his Kollywood debut also. 'Jayam' was named as one of the blockbusters of the year 2003 and also served as the fitting launchpad for the director and also his younger brother Jayam Ravi who is one of the top heroes of Kollywood today.

The association of Raja and Ravi continued as they delivered back to back super hits with 'M Kumaran S/o Mahalakshmi', 'Unakkum Enakkum Something Something' and 'Santhosh Subramaniam'. 'Thillalangadi' the Tamil remake of Telugu blockbuster 'Kick' was not as successful in Tamil.

Then the promising director got the coveted opportunity of directing Ilayathalapathy Vijay. This exciting combination resulted in 'Velayudham' which did not fail to satisfy the mass fans of Vijay as well as the family audience and turned out to be one of the super hit Tamil flicks of the year 2011.

Generally filmmakers take a break or will be compelled to take a break when the are faced with continuous flops But Raja voluntarily took a break of almost three years to deliver 'Thani Oruvan', which can be called as the masterpiece of his career so far.

Except 'Velaydham' and 'Thani Oruvan',all the other films of Raja were remakes prompting a criticism and a section of film buffs trolled him as Remake Raja. But he silenced the naysayers and proved his finesse as a scriptwriter with only one film 'Thani Oruvan' which turned out to be the unanimously acclaimed and the blockbuster of 2015.

Even when it comes to remakes, not all directors were as successful as Raja was. Remakes should not be a mere replica of other films. One should possess the knack of selecting the right film from other languages that will match the taste of local audience and he should also have the ability to make it suitable for the local sensibilities and also remain honest for the original. Raa possessed these unique qualities and that's why he has been highly successful with his remakes.

Raja is presently working on the script for his next which will have Sivakarthikeyan and Nayanthara in lead roles. He is also expected to take up 'Thani Oruvan 2 after finishing this film and his career is heading for more and more super hits and high quality films.