on them as a director. As a part of his commitment to an advert for Harvest Groundnut Oil, he first became acquainted with music composer A. R. Rahman, then widely known by his birth name of Dileep Kumar. The pair subsequently regularly collaborated on commercials, and often worked together in the late 1980s on brands such as Allwyn and Asian Paints. Film career Debut and breakthrough, 1990–1995 As his profile as an ad film-maker improved, Rajiv Menon worked on a few documentaries for filmmakers including Girish Karnad and Shyam Benegal. Karnad consequently offered him the opportunity to be the cinematographer for the Kannada film Jokumaraswamy in 1990, but the project was stalled after its lead actor Shankar Nag died in a car crash the day before the shoot. Another proposed film, Agniputhri was also shelved soon after its announcement. The following year, cinematographer P. C. Sreeram picked Menon to replace him for the shoot of Pratap Pothen's Telugu road film, Chaitanya (1991), starring Nagarjuna and Gautami. Menon has since revealed that his first assignment was a "physically and mentally exhausting" film to shoot, as it was full of chase scenes involving boats and motor cycles, and that he "couldn't wait to get back to commercials". He then worked with Karnad on a Kannada film titled Cheluvi (1992), to make up for the previous missed opportunity. During the period, Menon notably turned down the opportunity to work with M. Night Shyamalan on his directorial debut, Praying with Anger (1992), and on the chance to work as the lead actor in Mani Ratnam's romantic drama, Roja (1992). Menon was then approached by Mani Ratnam to shoot Bombay (1994), a film centred on events that occurred leading up to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, and the increased religious tensions that led to the Bombay riots. As a part of his instructions, Menon needed to depict the scenes before the riots as beautiful as possible. So, Menon suggested shooting in the rains to achieve the effect. The team shot the interiors of homes in Pollachi in Tamil Nadu and the exteriors were shot in Kasargod, and Kannur village in Kerala, while the song sequence Uyire was shot at Bekal Fort. Menon described that the success of the film "changed his life". Critical acclaim, 1996–2000 AVM Productions wanted to make a film to commemorate its 50th anniversary in 1997 and signed on