MUMBAI: The 67th Venice International Film Festival will honour filmmaker Mani Ratnam with the Jaeger-LeCoultre ‘Glory to the Filmmaker‘ award when it goes underway from 1 to 11 September.

This year, Swiss watch manufacturer Jaeger-LeCoultre that is celebrating its six years of partnership with the Venice International Film Festival, has instituted the Jaeger-LeCoultre ‘Glory to the Filmmaker‘ award.

After being presented the award, Ratnam‘s name will be added to the likes of Takeshi Kitano, Abbas Kiarostami, Agnes Varda, and Sylvester Stallone who have been past winners of the award.

Speaking on the choice of Mani Ratnam for the honour, Venice Film Festival director Marco Mueller said, " Mani Ratnam used to initially make movies only in his native tongue, Tamil, but has now been one of a handful of filmmakers to successfully handle the transition to the All-India market. 

One of the great innovators in contemporary Indian cinema, he helped introduce the auteur concept to contemporary Bollywood. His movies display precision and poise and have always been removed from the bombast and bluster of mass-produced regional cinema. Ratnam‘s most celebrated films have become part of the cinematic imagination of the sub-continent."

On the occasion, Ratnam‘s Raavan will premiere which would be graced by the cast and crew of the film including Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram and music maestro A.R. Rahman.

Raavan has been produced by Ratnam‘s Madras Talkies in association with Reliance Big Pictures. The film will be distributed globally by Reliance Big Pictures and IM Global.