He’s the rightful owner of the dialogue he most often resorted to, in public events: I won’t talk, my films will. And how loud the films spoke!

Mani Ratnam, at 53 today, is one of the youngest directors in Tamil cinema. The freshness of his scripts and characters find match only in the depth of their portrayals, and kudos to Mani Ratnam for pulling off both. Mani sir, as he is popularly known, has given hope to many aspiring fresh filmmakers, and has raised the bar his predecessors set, a task he still goes about, with child-like enthusiasm.

Reams of paper have been dedicated to the master’s craft, one that was found peaking in the Kamal Haasan-starrer ‘Naayagan’, only to be followed up with an even-more captivating ‘Thalapathi’. ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’, ‘Dil Se’ and ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ later only served to prove that Mani, the director we thoroughly adored, was winning with no streak of luck, but through immense talent, as a writer, screenwriter, director and producer.

Even as he is ailing form a cardiac illness that struck him recently, filmmaker Mani Ratnam is said to be at work, mentally, scripting one more of his films in his inimitable style.

Despite countless awards up his sleeve, he remains to be one of our most reticent of filmmakers. And nobody cares, as long as he continues to delight fans with his films, non-pareil. Please go on, Mani sir, for many many years to come.