Pa Ranjith Biography

Pa Ranjith is an Indian film director who has made Tamil language films. He made his directorial debut with 2012 cult romantic comedy film Attakathi, before earning unanimously positive reviews for his second film, the drama Madras. He written and directed the gangster-drama Kabali and in 2018, Kaala both starring Rajinikanth.

Ranjith was born in Karalapakkam, a village near Tiruninravur, 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.

Ranjith joined the film industry as an assistant director and first worked on Shiva Shanmugam's Thagapansamy (2006), which he has since revealed as an "unmemorable stint", before moving on to apprentice under film makers N. Linguswamy and Venkat Prabhu. He initially helped prepare a storyboard for a Malaysian album that Venkat Prabhu had been working on in 2006, before gaining trust and being allowed to work closely with him during the making of Chennai 600028 (2007).

Ranjith was introduced to a newcomer producer C. V. Kumar in 2011 by a mutual friend, Mani, who convinced Kumar to give Ranjith an opportunity to make a film. Consequently, Attakathi was completed in fifty days in a budget of just 1.75 crores. The film opened to positive review in August 2012.