List of films directed by Mani Ratnam featuring A. R. Rahman

Mani Ratnam after his long relationship with Ilaiyaraaja, parted ways and introduced newcomer A.R.Rahman in Roja. He happened to listen to some ad jingles, composed by Rahman, in an awards function, where Rahman received the award for Best Jingle Composer.[2] Impressed with Rahman's works, Ratnam visited his studio and listened to a tune that Rahman had composed long back on the Kaveri River water dispute.[3] Ratnam signed him immediately for the film, which was the first one in his terrorism trilogy. Rahman, in spite of his reluctance to seriously take up work in films, accepted the offer since Ratnam had the reputation of a director with a good taste for music.[2] Rahman would later say: "I wasn't sure myself why I accepted Roja. I was offered ₹25,000[4] for it, a sum that I could make in three days composing ad jingles. I think it was the prospect of working with Mani that enticed me".[2]

Roja was released in 1992 to universal acclaim. It is considered a milestone in Tamil and Indian film music that heralded the start of a new era.[5] It was subsequently listed in Time magazine's World's "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time.[6][7][8] As of April 2017, they worked together in 15 films altogether (out of which two are bilinguals and hence refer to the same soundtrack twice with a change in the language), with every soundtracks having marked a phenomenal critical and commercial success in Indian cinema. Rahman won three out of his six National Awards from his association with Ratnam. Bombay, the most significant work from their combination, is the largest selling Indian music album of all time, with an unprecedented sales of 12 million records.[9]

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Notes