40 Facts About Rajiv Menon

Rajiv Menon was born on 20 April 1963 and is an Indian filmmaker who has worked as a director and cinematographer in several Indian regional film industries.

Rajiv Menon has directed two critically acclaimed Tamil films, Minsara Kanavu and Kandukondain Kandukondain, winning a Filmfare Award for the latter.

Rajiv Menon was born on 20 April 1963 in Cochin, Kerala into a Malayalam-speaking family.

Rajiv Menon's father was a naval officer, and Menon had the chance to live across different parts of India at a very young age.

Rajiv Menon's mother is the noted playback singer Kalyani Menon, while his brother serves as an officer in the Indian Railways.

Rajiv Menon later moved to Madras aged fifteen and spent his formative years in the city.

The death of his father during the period meant that Rajiv Menon was left with little guidance during and did not want to take up a job which would put him in a "rat race".

Rajiv Menon was gifted a spare camera by his neighbour Desikan, a photo journalist with The Hindu, with the move igniting an interest for Menon in cinematography.

Rajiv Menon began his career in the entertainment industry as a still photographer, while dabbling in work on fashion shoots and corporate films.

Rajiv Menon later got into commercials, and eventually graduated into working on them as a director.

Rajiv Menon has since revealed that his first assignment was a "physically and mentally exhausting" film to shoot, as it was full of chase scenes involving boats and motor cycles, and that he "couldn't wait to get back to commercials".

Rajiv Menon then worked with Karnad on a Hindi film titled Cheluvi, to make up for the previous missed opportunity.

Rajiv Menon was then approached by Mani Ratnam to shoot Bombay, a film centred on events that occurred leading up to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, and the increased religious tensions that led to the Bombay riots.

So, Rajiv Menon suggested shooting in the rains to achieve the effect.

Rajiv Menon described that the success of the film "changed his life".

The production studio revealed that they were looking for a new director and Rahman suggested the name of Rajiv Menon to make his directorial debut.

Rajiv Menon thought about the offer for two months and was ultimately convinced by Rahman and Mani Ratnam to accept the project titled Minsara Kanavu.

Rajiv Menon announced he had begun pre-production work on a project titled Theekkul Viralai Vaithal during November 1998, with the title taken from a line by Subramania Bharati.

Rajiv Menon subsequently wanted a bigger storyline and scripted a screenplay based on the Jane Austen novel, Sense and Sensibility and the project was renamed as Kandukondain Kandukondain.

Rajiv Menon claimed that the story of two sisters reflected in the film were reminiscent of him and his brother through difficult parts of their lives.

Rajiv Menon chose to bring the film to North Indian audiences too, but opted against dubbing the film and submitted a final copy with English subtitles.

Rajiv Menon felt that the strong elements of Carnatic music, Subramanya Bharathi's poetry and the ambience of Karaikudi, were exclusively made for a Tamil backdrop.

Rajiv Menon showed the film across the world, including having screenings at the Washington Film Festival in April 2001, Locarno Film Festival in August 2002 and the Tiburon International Film Festival in March 2004.

Rajiv Menon discussed the potential of a Hindi version of the film with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actor Irrfan Khan but the project did not materialise.

In early 2001, Rajiv Menon began writing Spin, a Hinglish film based on a real-life relationship between a child with muscular dystrophy and cricketer Anil Kumble, who was set to play the lead role.

In 2006, Rajiv Menon worked on a Hindi adaptation of the comedy drama Fiddler on the Roof, and hoped to sign Amitabh Bachchan to play the lead role.

Rajiv Menon later narrated a script to Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan for a project titled Dhun during late 2008, and the pair agreed to work on the film.

However, in February 2013, Rajiv Menon confirmed that he would begin work on an unrelated project with a similar script and a bigger budget, and that Vidya Balan had agreed to essay the lead role of the singer.

Apart from writing and scrapping potential film ideas, Rajiv Menon continued work as a teacher at his film institute and as a director for advertisements.

Rajiv Menon worked with Mani Ratnam as the cinematographer for the director's films, Guru and Kadal.

Rajiv Menon has worked across several regional film industries in India, contributing towards English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films.

For films which he has directed, Rajiv Menon has selected other cinematographers to handle the camera work, despite his own proficiency.

Rajiv Menon stated that he prefers to be available for the cast and crew as a director, and prefers not to have cutters covering him during the process of directing the film.

Rajiv Menon has previously appeared in a supporting role in Fazil's Malayalam comedy drama film, Harikrishnans starring Mohanlal, Mammootty and Juhi Chawla.

Rajiv Menon has expressed his delight at leading an anonymous life, which could change if he were to become recognisable in public spaces.

Rajiv Menon started his career in the field of ad-photography, and then went on to make a number of TV commercials.

Rajiv Menon entered the field during the early days when competition was nil.

Rajiv Menon did his first Jingle in a national wide ad with him.

The documentary by Rajiv Menon captures the qualities of these music stalwarts.

Rajiv Menon is married to a fellow advertising director, Latha, and is based out of Chennai.