In a 2022 interview with entertainment portal Behindwoods, eminent Tamil actor Ajith Kumar’s brother Anil credited their parents for their liberal upbringing.
Anil called their father PS Mani who passed away today at 85 a rebel and described him as someone who was very intelligent even though he did not have a degree. “At 65, he embraced the Internet and new technologies. That is how intelligent he is,” shared Anil. He shared that despite hailing from a Tamil Brahmin family in Palakkad, his father still smoked, drank and ate meat while his mother Mohini, a Sindhi from Karachi, decided to become vegetarian. That was the kind of freedom the brothers too had in being encouraged to make their own choices, said Anil, who is the youngest of three siblings (Ajith and Anup are older). “They used to ask us when we were teenagers if we wanted to smoke or drink. They said, “do it in front of us,” reminisced Anil.
There was no pressure from their parents to study harder or to choose any particular career path, said Anil. Ajith pursued motorbike racing alongside acting and even worked as a mechanic for a few months although he was from a middle-class family, his brother remarked.
When Anil too chose an unconventional path and decided to become an entrepreneur, he wasn’t held back. “Our parents gave me the space to do it… I now feel they were ahead of their times as concepts such as space are Western’,” said Anil, founder-CEO of matchmaking platform Jodi365.com and an IIT Madras graduate. Anup is an investor.
P Subramaniam Mani aka PS Mani had suffered a debilitating stroke four years ago.
He is survived by his wife Mohini and three sons, Anup Kumar, Ajith Kumar, and Anil Kumar.
Source: The New Indian Express