Maniratnam's latest offering 'Yuva' is reportedly the director's costliest venture till date bettering 'Dil se', which was also made in Hindi.

Maniratnam, a management graduate, plunged into film making in 1983 with a kannada film 'Pallavi Anu Pallavi' and bagged the state award for the best film. He followed it up with successful ventures mostly in Tamil like 'Mouna Raagam', 'Nayagan', 'Thalapathi', 'Roja', 'Bombay' and 'Alaipayuthe'. In spite of so many successful films and the rich visuals in his films, the budget of the film never crossed 10 crores for his Tamil films. His only other hindi film 'Dil se' which was made on 12 crores was a big flop.

Now he has gone ahead and made a bilingual in Tamil and Hindi at the combined cost of 20 crores, with nearly 65% of the resources used by the Hindi film. Though the industry is doubtful about the fate of the film at the box-office, Maniratnam has already planned his moves to such an extent that he might break even with the cost on the film even before  the film is released on May 21, just like he did with 'Kannathil Muthamittal'.

Hit or flop, Maniratnam doesn't lose anything with the venture. Being a management graduate helps!