Mani Ratnam's films often feature realistic, contemporary themes and complex plots. With a career spanning over two decades, he has garnered high acclaim and has been praised for handling serious issues whilst retaining a high entertainment factor in his films. Familial and marital hardships, terrorism, love, class and religious conflict, war, politics, adoption, history and disability are just some of the socio-political issues to have been featured in his films. His movies are generally made in the Tamil language, but are usually also dubbed into other languages like Telugu and Hindi owing to their national appeal. He has also made films in other languages like Hindi, Telugu and Kannada. Mani Ratnam's first film was a Kannada one, Pallavi Anu Pallavi. It explored the relationship between an older woman and a young man. But it was with Mouna Raagam, a love story that managed to be both tender and exquisite without being maudlin or syrupy, that Mani Ratnam made the cash registers ring.

It was with Nayakan that Mani Ratnam found his true voice. A film so different from what any of the film-going audiences, not just in Tamilnadu but in the rest of the country as well were used to, it was a huge success and established Mani Ratnam's reputation as a box office miracle worker. It won a spate of awards and was India 's official entry for the Oscar Awards. Mani Ratnam had become a brand.

Awards and Recognition

Widely known for his ability to tread the middle way between artistic cinema and commercial cinema, Mani Ratnam's movies are further noted for their brilliance in technical aspects like art direction, cinematography and background score. His work has come to be recognised nationally and internationally.

In 2002, Mani Ratnam was awarded the Padma Shri - one of the Highest Civilian Honors bestowed by the President of India.

In 1994, a retrospective of his Tamil films was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). His movie Nayagan is part of Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Best Movies.