Ranjit was born in karalapakkam, a villiage near Avadi, North-West of chennai. He graduated from government college of fine arts, chennai, and has described that his travels to and from his college often helped create inspiration for film ideas. During his time in education, he joined the film chamber and began watching World cinema, regularly attending annual film festivals. He gained inspiration from films including The Battle of Algiers (1996) and City of God (2002),stating they changed his thinking of cinema and revealed the masses due to restrictions by central board of film certification in using actual references of caste based exploitation in movies. He made his directoral debut with the 2012 romantic comedy Attakathi, before earning unanimously positive drama Madras(2014). In 2016, he written and directed the gangster drama Kabali and in 2018, kaala both starring Ranjinikanth. As you enter director pa Ranjith’s office in Egmore, chennai, there is a big poster of Pariyerum Peru Al on the left. The critically acclaimed film is the first feature length project that Neelam Productions, headed by Pa Ranjith, undertook. Though the film was delayed by several months due to the strike in the thamil film industry and managed to get only a limited release on September 28,it went on to get rave reviews and eventually became a hit. In his room in the office building, the director has a black and white portrait of Ambedkar on the wall opposite his chair. There is also a small stone Buddha in the room-expressions of his political beliefs that have found their way to his films. Though Pariyerum Peru Al, directed by Mari Selvaraj, is still in the news, Ranjith is not one to rest on his laurels. The director is already in discussions for other upcoming films, including his Bolluwood venture. But the going hasn’t been easy for Ranjith, despite doing back to back films with Ranjinikanth, arguably the biggest star of his generation that the thamil film industry has produced. Pariyerum Peru Al, for instance, faced a lot of hurdles before it could make it to the screens in theatres across the country.
Pa. Ranjith