Major Ravi

Ravi was born to Indian Army soldier P. Kuttisankaran Nair and A. T. Satyabhama.^[3] He is married to Anitha. The couple has a son Arjun Ravi.

He joined the army as a sepoy after his schooling and later pursued his studies within the army and graduated from the Army Cadet College and from the Indian Military Academy to become an officer in Dec 1984. He served in the Indian Army as a commando in the National Security Guards, as aide-de-camp (ADC) to the then chief of Indian Army General Sunith Francis Rodrigues and as an officer in the Indian Military Intelligence in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Jammu and Kashmir.^[4] He was head of the mission code-named Operation One Eyed Jack to capture suspects of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination (the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam on 21 May 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu).^[5] His military tenure of three years in the National Security Guard as a commando inspired him to direct Keerthi Chakra (2006) and Mission 90 Days (2007).^[6] He retired from the army with the rank of major.

After serving for 24 years in the Indian Army, he became a military consultant for Indian films. He has worked with Indian film makers Priyadarshan, Rajkumar Santoshi, Kamal Haasan, and Mani Ratnam.^[7] His first feature film was Keerti Chakra, a film on Kashmir militancy.^[8]

His second movie Mission 90 Days was his own experience of the mission to capture the suspects of Rajiv Gandhi murder case.^[5] His third project Kurukshetra based on the Kargil war starring Mohanlal was a sequel to Keerthi Chakra.^[9] The 2010 film Kandahar was a third installment to the Major Mahadevan film series.

In 2012, he directed Karma Yodha with Mohanlal. In 2015, Picket 43, starring Prithviraj and Javed Jaffery was made. It turned out to be a hit. He is now heading towards a fourth installment in the Major Mahadevan series. About the film he quoted: "The focus will be on the individuals rather than the war, and will portray the relationships that are forged during the war."^[10]

In 2025 after a 13-year-long legal battle, Kottayam Commercial Court ruled that ‘Karmayodha’ script was plagiarised and Major Ravi was ordered to pay ₹30 lakh to the original author Reji Mathew as compensation^[11]

• Sena Medal
• Kerala State Film Awards
  • 2006: Best Screen Play - Keerthi Chakra
• Asianet Film Awards
  • 2006: Best Director Award - Keerthi Chakra
• 2008: Special Honour Jury Award - Kurukshetra
  • 2010: Best Feature Film on National Integration Award - Kandahar