Circa 1985. Impressed with the new kid on the direction block, Kovai Thambi one of the most successful Tamil film producers of all time, signed the director for his new film. It had some of the most saleable stars of that time, Mohan, Ambika and Radha. The film was not enough for the new enterprising director but he did a decent job and the film was an average hit. Again the director was not taken into consideration while discussing the film. Later the director said he just did only what the producer wanted and his mind had role in the film. The film was ‘Idhaya Koil’. Thanks to Illayaraja again for his magnificent songs which rocks even today after 25 years.

From ‘Mouna Ragam’, the director of class never looked back and made the entire film industry look up to him. What followed ‘Mouna Ragam’ was nothing but sheer magic. Film after film Mani Ratnam was raising the bar of creativity. When ‘Nayagan’ came Mani had set standards for others to copy. It won a wave of awards. It was India`s official entry for the Oscars and Mani Ratnam became a brand. The following ‘Agni Natchathiram’ increased his youth following. It also liberated technical inhibitions with Sriram’s photography which was trend setting. Remember the glow around everything and everybody in Agni Natchathiram?

‘Anjali’ was another angle to human emotions. A first of its kind in Tamil cinema dealing with spastic children it touched many hearts. From ‘Thalapathy’ onwards Mani Ratnam’s films were either inspirations or adaptations from real life or beliefs.

The duo who gave some of the best songs in modern Tamil cinema broke their ties and that paved way for another extra-ordinary relationship that of Mani Ratnam and A R Rahman. By the time ‘Roja’ in 1992 and ‘Bombay’ in 1995 struck gold with pan-India film lovers with good support from A R Rahman, every star who mattered in the Indian film industry started nurturing an ambition to do at least one film under Mani in their life time. From an aspiring actor to the Miss Universe aspirants Mani Ratnam was the ultimate destination.

So when the most beautiful girl in the world Aishwarya Rai, shunned all lucrative offers from Bollywood, waited for Mani Ratnam to introduce her in films nobody was surprised.

Click here to read - The rise and rise of Mani Ratnam – II