Mani Ratnam’s heroines have always inspired us in one way or another. They are gentle, yet headstrong. They are loving, yet stubborn. They are free-spirited and yet can be vulnerable. You can see that they have the courage to love, but they also possess the courage to walk away from that love with equal passion. Many a time, they are goofy and uninhibited and yet, they can be grace personified. But above all, they are always endearing. The strong female character in his movies is what makes the movie special. We take the nostalgic route and remember some of the memorable heroines in Mani Ratnam’s movies.
Nithya Menon
Catering to the modern generation Tara was a bold and beautiful independent woman living together with her boyfriend Aadi in the movie OK Kanmani. Although she was what every woman ever is today, she was a gentle lover on the inside and didn’t want to lose her love and ultimately her partner amidst modernization and urbanization. She is that woman who is individual and contemporary.
Aditi Rao Hydari
Aditi as Leela is a doctor who is working on her first job, meets the protagonist and falls for him She is vulnerable and fragile on the outside and inside she is headstrong and determined. She waits patiently for her love to return to her against all odds.
Simran
Simran plays a mother, whose adopted daughter wants to find her real mother in Kannathil Muthamittal. She questions herself if she had not done enough for her adopted daughter and is in a dilemma of how things will turn out when they meet the real mother. This movie was set around the SriLankan conflict.
Manisha Koirala
Manisha as Banu from the movie Bombay was a fighter. She loved her husband, his family but never gave up on her faith, her family, her love and her fight for togetherness. Yes, she leaves her family to marry a Hindu Brahmin but no she does not give up her faith.
Shalini Ajith
Alaipayuthey is one of Mani Ratnam’s best movies and the film gave us some serious relationship goals. Shalini as Sakthi, a short-tempered, independent woman who struggles between the family she loves and the love of her life. Shalini charmed us all with her smiles and her acting.
Madhubala
Madhubala played the distressed village gal who does not understand the language and is in a foreign land fighting against the system to get her husband back in Roja. Her husband gets kidnapped by terrorists and she does not rest until he is back. The character showed courage, confidence and the will not back down personality.
Aishwarya Rai
Aishwarya Rai’s debut movie was this Tamil flick, Iruvar. She plays two characters in this movie, a wife and a mistress and she played them both to perfection. She enticed us with her charming smile, beauty, and her dance moves.
Meera Jasmine
Meera Jasmine played the role of the wife of a goon in Ayudha Ezhuthu. She showed us the various layers of the character and what a woman goes through. She aborts her child to show her husband how it feels to kill someone and what pain the victim’s family must be in.
Revathi
Revathi in Mouna Ragam played the character Divya a woman who wants to live her life on her own terms and tells her husband she wants a divorce right after their marriage. The movie was much ahead of its times and she was that bold girl who got drenched and came home late when the groom’s family came to visit her.
Amala Akkineni
Amala plays the Police Commissioner’s daughter in Agni Natchathiram and she had a strong character to play. This movie was also ahead of its times as the heroine smokes in the film.
