Pa. Ranjith

Pa. Ranjith is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who primarily works in Tamil cinema.

He gained inspiration from films including The Battle of Algiers (1966), Gunda (1998 film) and City of God (2002), stating they changed his thinking of cinema and revealed that they had a deep impact on him.

Ranjith joined the film industry as an assistant director and first worked on Shiva Shanmugam's Thagapansamy (2006), which he has since revealed as an "unmemorable stint", before moving on to apprentice under film maker Venkat Prabhu.

He initially helped prepare a storyboard for a Malaysian album that Venkat Prabhu had been working on in 2006, before gaining trust and being allowed to work closely with him during the making of Chennai 600028 (2007).

Ranjith was introduced to a newcomer producer C. V. Kumar in 2011 by a mutual friend, Mani, who convinced Kumar to give Ranjith an opportunity to make a film.

Consequently, Attakathi was completed in fifty days on a budget of ₹ 1.75 crres.

Following promising pre-release reviews, the venture became bigger when production house Studio Green chose to buy the distribution rights.

He made his directorial debut with the 2012 romantic comedy Attakathi, before earning unanimously positive reviews for his second film, the political action-drama Madras (2014).

The film opened to positive review in August 2012, with Rediff.com noting the film "looks at youth and romance in a most refreshing way" and added that Ranjith should take "the credit, completely, of taking an ordinary storyline and infusing it with warmth and hilarity."

Sify's critic, similarly, wrote "we recommend that you make time for this charming little treat of a film, as it has an inherent sweetness and honesty that will stay with you".

Studio Green signed up Pa. Ranjith to direct a film for their production house and in December 2012, he confirmed that he would shortly begin work on a project titled Sarpatta Paramparai with Karthi in the lead role, though production was subsequently delayed and did not take off as planned.

In July 2013, it was announced that the pair would collaborate on a new script and that Sarpatta Parambarai and their ongoing venture, Madras, were two different scripts.

Although the producers liked both scripts, Ranjith decided to shoot Madras first as Karthi had accidentally read the script of Madras and liked its concept and characters.

Ranjith also informed that some changes were made to the script to accommodate Karthi in the lead role.

Also featuring Catherine Tresa and Kalaiyarasan in prominent roles, Madras told the story of a dispute over a political message written on wall in North Chennai and how the region's political rivalry affects the inhabitants.

Madras received highly positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of the actors, as well as the technical aspects of the film.

Udhav Naig, writing for The Hindu said, "Rarely does one get to see a Tamil film that reflects the social reality so closely and sketching a detailed account of life that the middle and the upper middle class know little about. Full marks to Pa. Ranjith for that".

Writing for The New Indian Express, Malini Mannath said, "With an engaging screenplay, deft narration, well fleshed out characters and actors well cast, Madras captures the feel, flavour and ambiance of North Madras with perfect precision".

Sify said, "Madras works big time as writer and director Ranjith has given priority to his script, which hooks the audiences straightaway. It is a triumph of honest writing and heartfelt dialogues. It is a gutsy and outstanding film".

He began pre-production work for a venture starring Suriya in October 2014, after the actor approached him being impressed with Madras.

He wrote and directed the action-drama films Kabali in 2016 and Kaala in 2018, both starring Rajinikanth.

Pa. Ranjith was born at Karalapakkam, Avadi, Chennai.

He has two brothers, Prabhu and Saravana.

He graduated from Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, and has described how his travels to and from his college often helped create inspiration for film ideas.

During his college days, he joined the film chamber of and began watching world cinema, regularly attending annual film festivals.

The project was put on hold, after Soundarya Rajinikanth approached him for a story and he began working on Kabali (2016) featuring Rajinikanth in the title role.

The film released in theatres on 22 July 2016 and received mixed reviews from critics.

Kaala is the first Indian film ever to be released in Saudi Arabia, following the country lifting its ban on public theatres in December 2017.

The movie received positive reviews.

The Times of India rated the film 3.5 out of 5 and stated that Ranjith owes to his excellent technical crew for "helping him visualise and deliver this 51% Rajini-49% Ranjith movie".

Pa. Ranjith marked his foray into production under his banner Neelam Productions with release of two documentaries titled Dr. Shoe Maker and Beware of Castes: Mirchpur.

Under the banner Neelam Productions, he also produced Mari Selvaraj's Pariyerum Perumal that stars Kathir and Anandhi, with music by Santhosh Narayanan.

Pariyerum went on to become a huge success with high critical acclaim.

Neelam Productions' next project has been titled as Irandam Ulagaporin Kadaisi Gundu.

The film stars Attakathi Dinesh and is directed by Athiyan Athirai.

Kaala a socio-political film, was released worldwide on 7 June 2018.

The film, which was to be the Tamil filmmaker's first non-Tamil project, was scheduled to be produced by Namah Pictures, which had co-produced Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi's Beyond the Clouds in 2018.

The cast of Ranjith's film has not been announced.

Ranjith shelved the Birsa Munda film, and wrote the script of Sarpatta Parambarai with Suriya in mind, but due to his prior commitments, he later approached Arya to play the lead role.

In 2019, Ranjith's worked on a Hindi-language biopic on freedom fighter Birsa Munda.