A. M. Rathnam is an Indian film producer, lyricist, screenwriter, and director known for his works in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

. Under the gamut of Sri Surya Movies Entertainment, Hyderabad, a movie production house owned by him, he has produced blockbusters in Telugu such as '' Karthavyam'' (1990), ''

Peddarikam ''Peddarikam'' () is a 1992 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced and directed by A. M. Rathnam under the Sri Surya Movies banner. It is a remake of the Malayalam film '' Godfather''. The film stars Jagapathi Babu, Sukanya, N. N. Pilla ...

'' (1992), ''

Sneham Kosam ''Sneham Kosam'' () is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language drama film produced by A. M. Ratnam under the Sri Surya Movies banner. Directed by K. S. Ravikumar, the film stars Chiranjeevi in a dual role of father and son, along with Meena while Vijay ...

'' (1999), and '' Kushi'' (2001). He ventured into

in 1996 with the blockbuster ''

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

'', which was India's Official Entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. He then produced films such as '' Kushi'', ''

Run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

'', ''

Boys A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man. Definition, etymology, and use According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is "a ...

'', '' Enakku 20 Unakku 18'', '' Dhool'', '' Ghilli'', '' 7G Rainbow Colony'', ''

Arrambam ''Arrambam'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Vishnuvardhan. Produced by A. Raghuram and co-written by Subha, the film stars Ajith Kumar, Arya, Nayanthara and Taapsee Pannu, with Kishore, Rana Daggubati, ...

'', ''

Yennai Arindhaal ''Yennai Arindhaal'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, and produced by A. M. Rathnam. The film stars Ajith Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Anushka Shetty and Arun Vijay and revol ...

'' and '' Vedalam''.

Personal life

Rathnam was born in

Buchireddypalem Buchireddypalem is a town in the Nellore district of India. It is the Buchireddypalem NagaraPanchayat part of the Kovur (Assembly constituency) Located 15 km from Nellore city, it is located on the state highway connecting Nellore an ...

of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. Rathnam has two sons, director and actor Jyothi Krishna and actor

Ravi Krishna Ravi Krishna is a former Indian actor who worked in the Tamil and Telugu film industries. Son of producer A. M. Rathnam, he made his acting debut in Selvaraghavan's critically acclaimed ''7G Rainbow Colony''. He has won Filmfare Award for Best M ...

. Jyothi Krishna's directorial debut '' Enakku 20 Unakku 18'' and its Telugu version, as well as Ravi Krishna's first four films, that also include Jyothi Krishna's second directorial venture '' Kedi'', were all produced by Rathnam himself. In 2012, he built a temple for Shirdi Sai Baba at his office in

Valasaravakkam Valasaravakkam is a neighbourhood in the Chennai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and a residential suburb of the city of Chennai. It is located in the Poonamallee Taluk at a distance of approximately 15 kilometres from the Kilometer ...

Career

Ratnam started his career as a make-up man for superstar actress Vijayashanti. Being the Executive Producer for the actress, he produced his first film '' Karthavyam'', in 1990. Vijayashanti won the National Award for the Best Actress for this film. He made films with

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu language, Telugu, as ...

and many other actors. He later began producing films in Tamil and Hindi as well, dubbing and releasing several films in other languages. He went on to finance

Shankar Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...

's ''

'', which earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil and was later submitted by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, '' Nayak: The Real Hero'' and ''

'' starring Chiranjeevi. Rathnam produced the Tamil romance film '' Kushi'', starring Vijay and its same-titled Telugu remake the following year, starring Pawan Kalyan, both of which were directed by

S. J. Surya S. Justin Selvaraj, known by his stage name S. J. Suryah is an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor, composer, producer and music director who has worked predominately in Tamil film industry. He sought to become an actor but started out d ...

and became highly successful. Later, he produced two more films, '' Ghilli'' and '' Sivakasi'' starring Vijay. Both Ghilli and Sivakasi were highly successful at the box office. During the early 1990s, he directed two films ''

'' and ''

Sankalpam ''Sankalpam'' () is a 1995 Indian Telugu-language film produced and directed by A. M. Rathnam on his Sri Surya Movies banner. It stars Jagapathi Babu, Gautami and music composed by Koti. The film is Prakash Raj's debut in Telugu. The film wa ...

'' in Telugu. He has also written the screenplay for the film ''

Naaga ''Naaga'' is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language political action film starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Sadaf, Jennifer Kotwal and Raghuvaran in main roles. The film is directed by D.K Suresh. The film was released on 10 January 2003. The film's ...

''. Later, he changed the name of his production company from Sri Surya Movies Entertainment to Shri Sai Raam Creations, which is now headed by S. Aishwarya. He had done three films with

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil films. To date, he has starred in over 60 films. His awards include four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Tamil N ...

such as ''

'', ''

'' and '' Vedalam'', all of which were huge success.

Awards

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

Filmfare Award for Best Film - Telugu ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...

– '' Karthavyam'' (1990) * Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil – ''

'' (1996) * Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil – ''

Natpukkaga ''Natpukkaga'' () is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. S. Ravikumar, starring R. Sarathkumar, Simran, Vijayakumar and Sujatha. It became a blockbuster upon release. The film won two Filmfare Awards South and Tamil Nadu St ...

'' (1998)

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

* Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film (First Prize) – ''

'' (1996) * Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film (First Prize) – ''

'' (1998) Others * Cinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil – ''

'' (1996)

Filmography

;Producer ;Distributor *'' Vyjayanthi IPS'' (1990) *

Gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

(1993, Telugu) * Premikudu (1994, Telugu Dubbed version of Kadhalan) *''

The King In the British English-speaking world, The King refers to: * Charles III (born 1948), King of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms since 2022 As a nickname * Michael Jackson (1958–2009), American singer and pop icon, nicknamed "T ...

'' (1995) (Tamil dubbed version of Malayalam film The King) *'' Unnaiye Kalyanam Pannikiren'' (1996) (Tamil dubbed version of Telugu film Ninne pelladatha) * Arunachalam (1997, Telugu) *

Jeans Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and paten ...

(1998, Telugu) * Oke Okkadu (1999, Telugu Dubbed Version of Mudhalvan) ;Lyricist *Jeans - Telugu version *Oke Okkadu - Telugu version of Mudhalvan *Boys - Telugu version *Naaga - Entha Chinna Muddu, Macarina, Oka Konte, Megham Karigenu

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rathnam, A. M. Film producers from Andhra Pradesh Tamil film producers Telugu film producers Living people Telugu people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Nellore district