Having made over 60 films since 1977, producer Aroma Mani, who passed away on Sunday, July 14, is believed to have individually funded the most number of films in Malayalam. The man behind many celebrated thrillers and superhit movies of the 80s and 90s, Aroma Mani was 65 years old when he died at his home in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. M Mani, as he was originally called, also directed seven films.

Mammootty’s Oru CBI Diary Kuruppu, August 1, Kottayam Kunjachan and Dhruvam, Mohanlal’s Irupatham Noottandu, Sooryagayathri and Balettan, Suresh Gopi’s Commissioner and FIR, all came from Aroma Mani’s production. He seemed to have a taste for what worked in cinema, only five of the 62 movies he made are known to have flopped at the box office. 

It was in 1977, upon a suggestion made by actor Madhu, that Mani the businessman turned to film production. Until then he ran hotels under the name of Aroma (which he continued to do after entering films). That first film – Dheerasameere Yamunaatheere – also directed by Madhu was a success. Mani began producing prolifically for the next 20 years, slowing down in the 1990s but still bringing out a number of films until the last decade. He produced movies under the banners of Aroma Movie International, and Sunitha Productions – named after his daughter.

It was scriptwriter Kaloor Dennis who noted in his column on Manorama that Aroma Mani was the person who produced the most number of films. Everything about him was marked by “speed”, and this would reflect in his speeches as some of the words were repeated one after another in quick succession, Dennis wrote. 

Five years after coming into the industry, Mani directed his first film out of a story he wrote and got scripted by Jagathy N Achary. Aa Divasam starred Mammootty and Mohanlal among others. He went on to direct Kuyiline Thedi, Engine Nee Marakkum and four more movies in the 1980s. He must have had a penchant for thrillers, for he picked up Mammootty’s CBI series and Mohanlal’s don movie Irupatham Noottandu, both of which are quoted to this day as some of the best in the genre. 

But he did not keep to a certain genre. Mani funded Padmarajan’s family drama Thinkalaazhcha Nalla Divasam, which won the National Film Award for best feature film in Malayalam in 1985. The next year, his film with director Sibi Malayil Doore Doore Oru Koodu Koottam won another National Award for ‘Other Social Issues’.