Suhasini Maniratnam
Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her cinematic debut with the 1980, Tamil film. "Nenjathai Killathe". Suhasini then won National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Sindhu Bhairavi" (1985). Suhasini has won 6 Filmfare Awards, 2 Kerala State Awards, 2 Tamilnadu State Awards and 2 Nandi Awards. Early life. Suhasini was born to actor–lawyer Charuhasan and Komalam in Paramakudi, as the middle  child of three sisters. Her elder sister Nandhini is a doctor, while Subhashini teaches English literature. Several family members including her father's younger brothers, producer Chandrahasan and actor–politician Kamal Haasan, have been a part of the Tamil cinema industry. Her paternal cousins Anu Hasan, Shruti Haasan and Akshara Haasan have also since become actresses. Suhasini attended the Municipal Elementary School in Paramakudi, before moving to Madras aged 12 to live with her grandmother and uncle Kamal Haasan. Suhasini's grandfather Srinivasan, a criminal lawyer, encouraged her to follow the rest of her family and become involved in films . She then became a student of cinematography from the M.G.R. Government Film and Television Training Institute, and started her career as a camera assistant to Ashok Kumar and went on to become an actress. Film career. As an actress. She has acted working predominantly in South Indian Cinemas. She started her career as a make-up artist for several leading actress at that time. She made her film debut in 1980 with the Tamil movie "Nenjathai Killathe". In her first movie itself, she won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress. She was introduced to Malayalam cinema through  Padmarajan's "Koodevide" (1983), which also featured Mammootty. Her role in the AFI Fest nominated feature film "Vanaprastham" (1999), which starred Mohanlal, was particularly well received. She acted along with all south Indian top heroes of her time. Her pairing with Vishnuvardhan is considered one of the best and also unique in South Indian films. The pair has acted together in various blockbuster movies like "Bandhana" (1984), "Suprabhatha" (1988), "Muthina Haara" (1990), "Himapatha" (1995), "Hendithghelthini" (1998), "Maathaad Maathaadu Mallige" (2007) and "School Master" (2010). She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1985 Tamil  film "Sindhu Bhairavi", directed by K. Balachander. She has worked in several other movies, some of her greatest hits movies names are "Swathi" (1984), "Ezhuthapurangal" (1987), "Amrutha Varshini" (1997), "Nuvvu Naaku Nachav" (2001), "Theerthadanam" (2001) and "Gabbar Singh" (2012) among others. As a director. In 1991, Suhasini directed the anthology mini-series "Penn" (1991) shown on Madras Doordarshan. The series featured eight standalone episodes examining the lives of South Indian women, and starred several of her contemporaries such as Shobana, Revathi, Raadhika and Amala as protagonists. In 1995, Suhasini tried her hands into direction, her first film was "Indira". She  didn't just direct the movie but also wrote the screenplay for the film. She and husband Mani Ratnam, are both successfully running their production house Madras Talkies, along with G. Srinivasan. However, the film won two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, winning Santosh Sivan the award for Best Cinematographer as well as a Special Jury Award for the film itself. The film was also shown in film festivals globally in countries including Belarus and Japan. In November 1997, Suhasini directed a short television film titled "Swayamvaram" featuring Suchitra Krishnamoorthi and Rajiv Menon . The script had been written by Sujatha  and commissioned by Revathi and Suresh Menon. Suhasini directed a segment titled "Coffee, Anyone?" in Amazon Prime's "Putham Pudhu Kaalai" (2020). Shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, the segment was set against the backdrop of the 21-day COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 in India, and featured Suhasini in the leading role alongside her cousins Shruti Haasan and Anu Hasan, and her mother Komalam. Other work. Suhasini and her husband Mani Ratnam have been involved in the running of their production company Madras Talkies since 1997. Honorary Consul. Suhasini was appointed the Honorary Consul Of the Grand Duchy Of Luxembourg  in 2015. She held the post until 2020. Goodwill and Brand Ambassador. Naam Foundation. Suhasini founded Naam Foundation in 2010 with the foremost objective to empower single women. She strongly believes that empathising with the single women in the underprivileged segment is only the start of change. To create a powerful impact, Naam Foundation developed a very personalized approach to reach out to these women through mentorship. A panel of women volunteers identified as Naam Thozhigal personally take care of these women and keep in touch with them on a daily basis. They also arrange for expert counsellors to work  with the women to address the issues that have affected them. The coaches meet once a month to evaluate their work and to discuss new approaches, new resources and to discuss specific issues that need additional focus. These women coaches bring together vast experience in community work and bring with them empathy and commitment to help empower the Naam Women. Personal life. Suhasini married film director Mani Ratnam on 26 August 1988 and the couple has a son, Nandan, born in 1992.