1990s drama film docudrama biographical film

Iruvar

The Duo

1997 · India · 156 min

Director: Mani Ratnam
Screenplay: Mani Ratnam, Suhasini Maniratnam
Producer: Mani Ratnam, G. Srinivasan
Music: A. R. Rahman
Cinematography: Santosh Sivan
Editing: Suresh Urs
Production company: Madras Talkies

Cast

Gautami Tadimalla

What it is about

In late-1940s Madras, Anandan is a charismatic actor struggling to break into the Tamil film industry. He meets Tamizhselvan, an eloquent rationalist writer steeped in Dravidian ideology, whose writing impresses him enough to secure a lead role. Tamizhselvan introduces him to Ayya Veluthambi, the veteran leader of a rising political party. Over the following years, the two friends find their personal and professional lives increasingly bound up with politics and screen fame, in a story about friendship and ambition.

How it was made

Mani Ratnam announced the project in 1995, with dialogue written by his wife, Suhasini. Early reports suggested a political story outside the film world, which Ratnam denied, and the finished film turned out to focus on the relationship between cinema and politics in Tamil Nadu, inspired by M. G. Ramachandran, M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalithaa. A. R. Rahman composed the music and Santosh Sivan shot the film. Mohanlal, who had previously made only a cameo in Tamil cinema, leads the cast alongside Prakash Raj, while Aishwarya Rai, the former Miss World, made her screen debut playing two characters.

Reception and legacy

The film screened in the Masters section of the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival and won the Best Film award at the Belgrade International Film Festival, as well as two National Film Awards in India. In 2012 critic Rachel Dwyer included it in the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound poll of the greatest films of all time, and in 2025 it was screened at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the first Tamil film to be shown there. Ratnam later called it his best film.