Mani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam.PR Handout

Leading filmmaker Mani Ratnam plans to return to Sandalwood. Yes, after three decades, the director is gearing up to helm a Kannada movie again.

As per the Times of India, Mani Ratnam opened up about his plans at the 8th Bengaluru International Film Festival recently. The maverick director has reportedly revealed he will helm a film produced by award-winning filmmaker SV Rajendra Singh Babu if everything falls into place.

SV Rajendra Singh Babu and Mani Ratnam have been good friends for ages. It is noteworthy that Ratnam's wife Suhasini had worked with the Kannada filmmaker in a few movies, including classics "Bandhana" and "Muthina Haara".

Mani Ratnam had made his debut as a director with "Pallavi Anu Pallavi" in the Kannada film industry way back in 1983. The movie featured Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and Lakshmi in the lead. It did average business at the box office, but won a few Karnataka state awards.

After his debut film, he got busy with Tamil and Hindi films, and never returned to Sandalwood. It appears like the stage is now set for his comeback.

However, the director, who returned to good form with last year's hit film "O Kadhal Kanmani" after delivering a few flops, is currently gearing up for a bilingual movie, which is in its pre-production stage. The film will star Naga Chaitanya, Rana Daggubati, Sai Pallavi and Keerthy Suresh.