Priyadarshan

Name: Priyadarshan
First Film : Saaza-E-Kaala Paani













BIOGRAPHY

Priyadarshan, is a popular Indian movie director. He hails from the state of Kerala, South India. He has directed numerous popular hit movies in Malayalam in the 1980s and 1990s.

Films were never Priyadarshan's first choice - he used to play a lot of cricket, but an injury to his left eye where a ball hit him ended his hopes of a career in cricket. There were many of his friends from Thiruvananthapuram who came to film industry. Mohanlal (Actor), M. G. Sreekumar (Singer), Suresh Kumar (Producer) are few among them.

Priyadarshan's father was a librarian in Thiruvananthapuram. He got oppotunity to read literary works of famous writers. He was fascinated by comics and fairy tales. That still reflects in his movies
Priyadarshan became film director by accident and the first movie (Poochakkoru Mookkuthi, Malayalam) became a block buster. Priyadarshan brought differnt outlook to comedy movies in Malayalam. He used slaptstick extensively in his films. He got tremendous support from Mohanlal who acted in most of his Malayalam films. Priyadarshan is one director who extracted maximum of Mohanlal in the humour stand point. The pair created blockbusters one after another. Their best work till date considered as Chithram (Malayalam, 1987) which made people laugh till end and brought tears finally.

Apart from Malayalam films he also directed Hindi, Tamil and Telugu movies. But the things were waiting for him in Hindi. Priyadarshan's entry in to Bollywood was not so encouraging. Muskurahat(1993) was his first Hindi film and no one noticed it. The success of the movie Gardish(1994) opened a new world in front of Priyadarshan. He made mulitilingul Kalapaani(1996) which told the story of freedom fighters in the backdrop of Andaman and Nicobar. It became as showcase for talented technicians from Malayalam to get noticed in national level. It bagged 4 National Awards. Including the awards for Santosh Sivan (Cinemotaography) and Sabu Cyril(Art Director).

People started noticing his Hindi movies. Virasat (1997) came. The film is a remake of the acclaimed Kamal Haasan starrer Thevar Magan (Tamil). It was remade in Hindi with the help of writer Vinay Shukla. It was well appreciated by critics and common man. Tabu (Actress), Ravi K Chandran (Cinemotography) and Anu Malik (Music) got recognition. Then it was Hera Pheri (2000) which went against the formula and became a huge hit. Hungama(2003)(remake of Poochakkoru Mookkuthi) , Hulchul(2004), Garam Masala(2005) followed. Actors wanted to work with him. Banners like Sahara One, Percept Picture Company, Venus, K Sera Sera wanted him as director. Priyadarshan is famous for his speed in finishing the shots. This was something new in Hindi cinema then where films used to take years to complete.

Most of Priyadarshan movies are rich with exotic visuals, songs and simple humour spread through. One of his most visually appealing works would be award winning 'Thenmavin Kombath' (Malayalam, 1994). It can be seen that in the middle of his career he was maturing more technically. This can be seen in Kilukkam(1991, Malayalam), Abhimanyu(1992, Malayalam) or Kaalapaani. Most of the times his technical team has N. Gopalakrishnan (Editor), S. Kumar (Cinemotography) and Sabu Cyril (Art Director).

All these movies were remakes of Tamil and Malayalam block busters. Till Priyadarshan's time remakes never used create the impact as its originals. He was creating his own territory. The movies which couldn't come to the expectations were Muskurahat, Kabhi Na Kabhi(1997), Doli Sajake Rakhna (1998), Yeh Tera Ghar Ye Mera Ghar(2002) and Kyonki(2005).

Priyadarshan won Kerala State Award for Best Director in 1995.

Priyadarshan met his wife, Malayalam actress Lisy, on the set of his second film. They have done 12 movies together, though she has quit acting now. They have two children.his daughter Kalyani and son Sidharth