Priyadarshan

Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Malayalam and Hindi cinema.

The massive success his movies enjoyed mirrors the collective conscience of the people, particularly the elite, of that era - a period with which the filmmaker is intimately connected.

Priyadarshan began his career in Malayalam cinema in the early 1980s and was active throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1984, Priyadarshan, along with his close friends Suresh Kumar and Sanal Kumar, decided to produce a film as Shankar, the saleable hero, helped them in arranging finance from Thiruvenkadam, a top film financier.

Mohanlal, who was by then a popular star, was selected as the parallel hero along with Shankar.

Thus in 1984, Priyadarshan made his debut as director with Poochakkoru Mookkuthi, which was a surprise hit.

A slapstick comedy film shot on a low budget, it completed a successful run of 100 days in Kerala theatres.

Priyan continued his fine form for slapstick comedy with the successful Odaruthammava Aalariyam and he later made Onnanam Kunnil Oradi Kunnil and the Mammootty-Shankar family thriller Parayanumvayya Parayathirikkanumvayya.

Then he made Punnaram Cholli Cholli, his first film without Mohanlal.

His successful stinct continued with Boeing Boeing and Aram + Aram = Kinnaram, both doing wonderful business.

He was later criticised for making Rakkuyilin Ragasadassil, a film which was supposed to be made with Shankar and Menaka and many said the lead pair Mammootty & Suhasini was miscast and in spite of hit songs, the film flopped.

But Mazha Peyyunnu Maddalam Kottunnu, Ayalvasi Oru Daridravasi and Dheem Tharikida Thom became hits underlining his consistency.

Priyan was accepted as a serious director with the highly successful tragic family drama Thalavattam.

His Tamil film Chinnamanikkuyile remained unreleased, while his success stint continued in Malayalam with Cheppu being a success.

1988 was a landmark year in Priyadarshan's career.

He directed Vellanakalude Nadu, based on a script by Sreenivasan, with Mohanlal in the lead role.

This film revolved around corruption, land mafia and other social issues.

This film ended up becoming the biggest hit in Priyadarshan's career to that point.

Then came Aryan, an action film based on the Mumbai underworld scripted by T.Damodaran, which completed 150 days in theatres.

Chithram, Priyadarshan's all-time biggest hit, was also released in 1988.

Oru Muthassi Katha and Mukunthetta Sumitra Vilikkunnu completed his 5 releases of 1988.

However, he couldn't deliver hits in 1990 with Kadathanadan Ambadi and Akkare Akkare Akkare.

Chithram completed 366 days in theatres and created new records in collections, until they were broken by his own film, Kilukkam in 1991.

In the year 1991, Priyadarshan brought out Kilukkam with Mohanlal, Jagathi Sreekumar and Revathi.

In the 2000s, he transitioned to Bollywood (Hindi-language cinema) and was prolific throughout the decade.

Over his career, he has been honored with the National Award three times.

In 2013, he announced that Rangrezz would be his last Hindi film for the time being as he shifted his focus to Malayalam cinema.

His most notable films include Mazha Peyyunnu Maddalam Kottunnu, Thalavattam, Vellanakalude Nadu, Chithram, Vandanam, Kilukkam, Abhimanyu, Mithunam, Thenmavin Kombath, Kaalapaani, and Chandralekha.

He is known for adapting Malayalam films into Hindi, from his own work as well as from other films.

Most notable such Bollywood films include Hera Pheri, Hungama, Hulchul, Garam Masala, Bhagam Bhag, Chup Chup Ke, De Dana Dan and Bhool Bhulaiyaa.

Priyadarshan received his early education at Government Model School, Trivandrum, and obtained a Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University College Trivandrum.His father was a college librarian, which helped Priyadarshan to develop interest in books.

He was a voracious reader during his teenage years, and during his time in college he started writing short plays and skits for All India Radio.

He was influenced by the films of director P. Venu.

His friends in those days included Mohanlal, M. G. Sreekumar, Suresh Kumar, Sanal Kumar, Jagadish, Maniyanpilla Raju and Ashok Kumar.

It was then that Mohanlal entered in films.

His friends followed him to Chennai, looking for a chance in films.

Priyadarshan, with the help of Mohanlal, got a few chances to work as an assistant scriptwriter in a couple of films and started writing scripts, with some turning into success.

Eventually, he had to come back to Kerala.

Priyadarshan has been working since 40 years in Indian cinema as a director and screenwriter.

He has directed over 95 Films in 4 Indian languages: Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu.