Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957)[1] is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his involvement in Indian cinema. Over a career spanning nearly three decades, Priyadarshan has directed a portfolio of over 90 films in multiple Indian languages, predominantly Malayalam and Hindi, alongside notable works in Tamil and Telugu. His career has been decorated with several accolades, including three National Film Awards, multiple Kerala State Film Awards, and the prestigious Padma Shri in 2012, India's fourth-highest civilian honor.
In the 2000s, Priyadarshan transitioned to Bollywood where he became well-known for his adaptations of Malayalam films into Hindi, many of which became major box-office successes. Notable examples include the drama films Gardish (1994) and Virasat (1997), as well as comedies such as Hera Pheri (2000), Hungama (2003), Hulchul (2004), Garam Masala (2005), Bhagam Bhag (2006), Chup Chup Ke (2006), Dhol (2007), De Dana Dan (2009), and Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2008). Many of these films have gained a cult following among Hindi-speaking audiences.[2][3]
In 2013, Priyadarshan announced that Rangrezz would be his last Hindi film for the time being, as he shifted his focus back to Malayalam cinema.[4]
Legacy
Priyadarshan's body of work can be argued to have had cemented his status as a filmmaker capable of transcending linguistic and cultural barriers. He has produced many films related to Indian Cinema and so as a result has gained public support from many Indians.
Early life
Priyadarshan received his early education at Government Model School, Thiruvananthapuram, and obtained a Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University College Thiruvananthapuram.[citation needed] His father was a college librarian, which helped him to develop an interest in books. He was a 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 into the film industry. His friends followed him to Chennai, looking for opportunities in the film industry. Priyadarshan, with the help of Mohanlal, worked as an assistant scriptwriter in a couple of films and it was during this time he started writing his own scripts, with some turning into a success. Eventually, he had to come back to Kerala.[5]
Priyadarshan originally aspired to become a cricketer, however, after his left eye was damaged during a game, he quit the sport and turned to filmmaking.[6]
Film career
Priyadarshan has been working for 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.
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. Chithram completed 366 days in theatres and created new records in collections, until they were broken by his own film, Kilukkam in 1991. 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. In the year 1991, Priyadarshan brought out Kilukkam with Mohanlal, Jagathi Sreekumar and Revathi . Kilukkam broke several collection records and is still considered one of the best films from the Priyadarshan-Mohanlal team. Further, in his next three films, Abhimanyu (1991), Advaitham (1992), and Thenmavin Kombathu (1994) successfully completed 100 days in theatres. Both Midhunam (1993) and Minnaram (1994) were able to make response in cinemas. Meanwhile, Priyadarshan was invited by Shri. M. Karunanidhi to direct a film for his son's production house. Priyadarshan thus made his Tamil debut with Gopura Vasalile . In 1991 he also made a Telugu filmNirnayam when Nagarjuna approached him to remake his Malayalam filmVandanam in Telugu. In the year 1992, Priyadarshan made his debut in Bollywood with Muskurahat, again remake of his own Malayalam film Kilukkam which ended up as a disastrous flop.[citation needed]
In 1993, he made a comeback in Hindi with Gardish, an adaptation of the Malayalam film Kireedom, written by A. K. Lohithadas. In 1994, Priyadarshan directed his second and last Telugu film till date, Gandeevam, starring Balakrishna. He was also assigned the direction of the Miss World 1996 event that was held in Bangalore, which made him a known face around the country. In 1996, Priyadarshan came up with his dream project, Kalapani, an epic period film based on Indian struggle for Independence scripted by T. Damodaran. With Mohanlal, Tabu, Prabhu and Amrish Puri in main roles and music by Ilaiyaraja, Kalapani helped in growing his career. This film, which was originally filmed in Malayalam, was also dubbed and released in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi simultaneously. Kalapani brought him several awards for the first time in his career. In 1997, Priyadarshan directed two films, Chandralekha in Malayalam and Virasat a Hindi adaptation of Bharathan's Tamil film Thevar Magan, both super hits. In the year 1998, Priyadarshan directed three films, Saat Rang Ke Sapne, remake of his own Thenmavin Kombathu, then Doli Saja Ke Rakhna, with story adapted from Fazil's Aniyathi Pravu and Kabhi na Kabhi, but all three bombed at the box office. Priyadarshan joined with Mammooty after a long gap in 1999 for Megham.
2000–2016
In 2000, Hera Pheri was released in Hindi. Hera Pheri, an adaptation of the Malayalam film Ramjirao Speaking (1989), was a hit at the box office. Starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Tabu and Paresh Rawal, this film is now considered a landmark in the history of Hindi cinema. The film also gave birth to the Priyadarshan-Akshay Kumar team, which in later years produced several hits. After Hera Pheri, Paresh Rawal became another regular face in Priyadarshan films. This film was followed by a series of films in Hindi including Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar, Hungama, Hulchul, Garam Masala, and Kyon Ki. In the year 2000, Priyadarshan directed the Malayalam-Tamil bilingual Raakilipattu (Snegithiye in Tamil) starring Tabu and Jyothika, with story adapted from the Marathi film Bindhaast, an experimental film with all female characters, which is well critically acclaimed. The Malayalam as well as the dubbed Hindi version, Friendship, released only seven years later in 2007.[7][8]
Priyadarshan's English languageepic period film titled The Last Revolutionary produced by 20th Century Fox, based on the life of Indian freedom fighter Chandrasekhar Azad was supposed to begin filming in 2001, but the project was shelved due to unknown reasons.[9][10] During this period, Tamil actor Kamal Haasan was working on his ambitious film, Anbe Sivam. After finishing the script, Kamal Haasan approached Priyadarshan to direct the film. The pre-production commenced; but after some differences of opinion between the director and the actor; Priyadarshan opted out from the project before the first schedule. This sudden setback led to the whole crew to run out of their schedules. Hence, the producers after convincing Kamal Haasan, quickly roped in Sundar.C to direct the film.
Priyadarshan made the comedy film Kakkakuyil in 2001, bringing back the combo of Mohanlal and Mukesh, which was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The film was a superhit at the box office. Then his two other films in Malayalam, Kilichundan Mampazham and Vettam released in 2003 and 2004 respectively, were average run at box office, which made him concentrate more in Bollywood. But at the same time, in Hindi, Priyadarshan continued his successful run with Chup Chup Ke, Bhagam Bhag, Malamaal Weekly, Dhol, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, De Dana Dan and Mere Baap Pehle Aap. But his subsequent films Billu, Bumm Bumm Bole, Khatta Meeta, Aakrosh and Tezz failed to live up to the expectations. In 2013, Rangrezz also failed at the box-office.
In the meantime, Priyadarshan released Kanchivaram, an offbeat film that revolved around the weavers in Kanchipuram. Prakash Raj, who played the central character, won the National Film Award for Best Actor in 2008. Kanchivaram also won accolades at several film festivals.
In late 2015, Priyadarshan announced a crime thriller film in Malayalam, with Mohanlal in the lead role.[11][12] The production was confirmed and the title Oppam was announced in December 2015. The director started working on the film ahead of another big-budget film starring Mohanlal, which was delayed due to unfavourable weather in Russia, where the film was supposed to be shot.[13] The screenplay and dialogues are written by Priyadarshan himself which is based on the story by debutante writer Govind Vijayan. The film released to positive reviews[14] and emerged as a blockbuster, beating several records[15] and becoming the highest grossing Malayalam film of the year within 16 days of release.[16]
In early 2018, he started pre-production on Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, a Malayalam language epic historical period film set in the 16th century. The film with Mohanlal in the titular role, is based on the battle exploits of Kunjali Marakkar IV—the naval chieftain of the Zamorin of Calicut. Kunjali Marakkars organised the first naval defense of the Indian coast by safeguarding Calicut from Portuguese invasion for almost a century. The film was eventually released on 2 December 2021. It received mixed reviews and failed at the box office. Before the release of Marakkar, a spiritual sequel of his own 2003 Hindi film Hungama, titled Hungama 2 was released directly on 23 July 2021 on Disney+ Hotstar and received negative reviews. The film was loosely based on Priyadarshan's own 1994 Malayalam film Minnaram.[17]
In 2023, he produced and directed Corona Papers, a Malayalam film starring Shane Nigam. The film was an official remake of a Tamil film 8 Thottakkal which itself was loosely inspired from a 1949 Japanese film, Stray Dog. The film was released on
6 April 2023 to positive reviews, and had a moderate performance in the box office.[18] In the same year, then he directed a Tamil film Appatha starring Urvashi in lead role was released directly on 29 July 2023 on JioCinema.[19][20]
He married the actress Lissy on 13 December 1990.[22] They are parents to two children, actress Kalyani and Sidharth.[23][24] The couple got divorced on 1 September 2016, after 26 years of marriage.[25]
Awards and honours
Priyadarshan has won awards, given by the State and Central government for his movies. Thrice he was chosen for national award. His offbeat film Kanchivaram was adjudged the best feature film at the 2007 National Film Awards. For Kanchivaram, he also received National Award as the Producer of the best feature film. He made a period epic film titled Kaalapani, in Malayalam, which told the story of freedom fighters in the jail at Andaman and Nicobar Islands; it starred Mohanlal, Tabu, Prabhu and Amrish Puri, and received four National Film Awards, including awards for Santosh Sivan (cinematography) and Sabu Cyril (art direction). The film was dubbed and released in other languages such as Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. For Marakkar : Arabikadalinte Simham he received the National Award for Best Director.
Civilian Awards
2012 – Padma Shri[26] Awarded "Padma Shri", by the president of India for his contribution to Indian Cinema.
'Excellence Award', by Hindustan University, Chennai – 2013
Kerala Government's Appointment under Ministry of Culture:
Chairman of Kerala State Chalachithra Academy for the period 2011-2014
Director of International Film Festival of Kerala for the period 2011–2014.
Sports
Columnist for Malayala Manorama Newspaper for international cricket matches played in Kerala.
Chairperson of the Committee of Ceremonies for the 35th National Games held in Kerala in 2015.
Social
Rising Star Outreach of India – Served as Director from July 2014 till March 2019; Rising star is one of the largest leprosy eradication organization in the world, running welfare centres and educational institutions for leprosy affected people and their family.
Government of India's appointment under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting :
Priyadarshan served as 'Chairperson', of the Feature Films Jury of the 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019.
He was the Central Jury Chairperson of 64th National Awards for 2016 (President's Award for the Year 2016 )
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