Did these 5 International movies inspire ‘Ponniyin Selvan’s director Mani Ratnam to make his earlier films?

Mani Ratnam is a multiple award-winning Indian film screenwriter and director who has also produced several Tamil films. Moreover, many of his films were dubbed in Telugu with the same (or) different titles. His films are lauded for their different genre storylines, narration and presentation made with top-notch actors & technicians in the country. However, some of his film's scenes/techniques either partially/fully are said to be inspired by a few International films. Below is the list. Check here

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Mani Ratnam’s ‘Chekka Chivantha Vaanam’ starring an ensemble star cast from the Tamil film industry such as Vijay Sethupathi, Aravind Swami, Arun Vijay, Silambarasan, Thiagarajan and others was jointly written by Mani Ratnam in association with Siva Ananth. The film reportedly has noted similarities with the 2013 Korean movie the ‘New world’. The film was dubbed into Telugu as ‘Nawab’.

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This 1987 Tamil epic crime film written and directed by Mani Ratnam with Kamal Haasan, Saranya and Karthika in the lead roles is said to be loosely based on the life of Mumbai underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar. However, the film was majorly inspired by ‘The Godfather (1972). The film was dubbed into Telugu as ‘Nayakudu’.

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Mani Ratnam’s romantic thriller film ‘Roja’ starring Arvind Swami and Madhoo is about a simple girl from a village in Tamil Nadu, who makes desperate efforts to find her husband after he is kidnapped by militants during a secret undercover mission in Jammu & Kashmir. The film was compared to ‘Held Hostage’ (1991) television film that talked about the kidnapping of journalist Jerry Levin whose rescue was organized by his wife. The film was dubbed into Telugu the same year with the same title and AR Rahman’s music.

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The romantic drama film dubbed in Telugu as ‘Sakhi’ starred R.Madhavan and Shalini playing the lead roles. The film explores the tensions of married life between two young people who elope and marry and later have conflicts between tradition and modernity. The film was also remade in Hindi with Mani Ratnam’s screenplay that has its climax reported to be inspired by the 1998 film ‘Sliding Doors’ and the film also has references from ‘Barefoot in the park (1967)’.

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The Tamil drama film dubbed into Telugu with the same name and year 1990 featured Raghuvaran, Revathi, Tarun, Shruti and Shamili in supporting roles that deal with the story of the mentally disabled child and the emotional trauma experienced by her family. The film is reported to be inspired by 1979 docudrama ‘Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love’.

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Aayutha Ezhuthu 2004 political action Tamil film that is dubbed and released in Telugu the same year as ‘Yuva’ is said to be based on the life story of Telugu PhD scholar ‘George Reddy’ but its narrative style is said to be inspired by Mexican film ‘Amores Perros (2000)’ by Alexjandro Gonzalez Inarritu, The idea of hyperlink cinema is said to be common in both the films.

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