Priyadarshan

Priyadarshan hails from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala where his father Mr. Nair worked as a librarian at the University of Kerala. It was here that he got the opportunity to read literary works of famous writers. His fascination for comics and fairy tales reflects in his movies. As a child, Priyadarshan aspired to be a cricketer. However his hopes of a career in cricket were cut short following an injury to his left eye by a cricket ball. He would later wear dark glasses when appearing in public. Priyadarshan met his wife, Malayalam actress Lizzy (Lakshmi Priyadarshini), on the sets of his second film. They have worked together in twelve movies. He has two children, daughter Kalyani and son Sidharth. Megastar of the Malayalam industry Mohanlal is one of Priyadarshan s closest friends.

Around the same period many of his friends from Thiruvananthapuram joined the film industry including Superstar Mohanlal, singer M. G. Sreekumar, producer Suresh Kumar are a few among them. Priyadarshan is said to have ve...

Priyadarshan hails from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala where his father Mr. Nair worked as a librarian at the University of Kerala. It was here that he got the opportunity to read literary works of famous writers. His fascination for comics and fairy tales reflects in his movies. As a child, Priyadarshan aspired to be a cricketer. However his hopes of a career in cricket were cut short following an injury to his left eye by a cricket ball. He would later wear dark glasses when appearing in public. Priyadarshan met his wife, Malayalam actress Lizzy (Lakshmi Priyadarshini), on the sets of his second film. They have worked together in twelve movies. He has two children, daughter Kalyani and son Sidharth. Megastar of the Malayalam industry Mohanlal is one of Priyadarshan s closest friends.

Around the same period many of his friends from Thiruvananthapuram joined the film industry including Superstar Mohanlal, singer M. G. Sreekumar, producer Suresh Kumar are a few among them. Priyadarshan is said to have ventured into films by chance. His first movie Poochakkoru Mookkuthi in Malayalam was a block buster. His success is generally attributed to the new outlook, particularly slaptstick comedy which is extensively used in his films. Mohanlal has played the lead character in some of his most successful films. Their best work till date has been considered to be Chithram (Malayalam, 1987). Another movie Kilukkam was one of the biggest hits in the history of Malayalam cinema.

Apart from Malayalam films Priyadarshan has also directed Hindi, Tamil and Telugu movies. His foray into Bollywood was with the movie Muskurahat (1993) remake of malayalam film Kilukkam. This was a failure at the box office and it went largely unnoticed. His first successful Hindi film was Gardish, a remake of the malayalam film Kireedam (1989).

He made his second foray into Hindi films with the remake of the acclaimed Kamal Haasan starrer Thevar Magan (Tamil) in Hindi. The film was titled Virasat and was made with the help of writer Vinay Shukla. The success of the film established Priyadarshan as a sought after director in Bollywood along with the cast and crew of the film including Tabu, Ravi K Chandran (cinemotography) and Anu Malik (music).

He later came up with a string of remakes including Hera Pheri (2000) (remake of Ramji Rao Speaking), Hungama (2003) (remake of Poochakkoru Mookkuthi), Hulchul (2004) (remake of Godfather), Garam Masala (2005) (remake of Boeing Boeing), Chup Chup Ke (2006) (remake of Punjabi House) and Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) (Remake of Manichitrathazhu)

Priyadarshans movies are noted for their rich exotic visuals, songs and slapstick humour. He often works with the technical team comprising of N. Gopalakrishnan (editor), S. Kumar (cinemotography) and Sabu Cyril (art director).

Some of the remakes of Priyadarshan however failed to achieve boxoffice success. These include Muskurahat (1993), Kabhi Na Kabhi (1997) (not a remake), Doli Sajake Rakhna (1998) (remake of Aniyathipravu), Yeh Tera Ghar Ye Mera Ghar (2002), (remake of Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam) and Kyonki (2005)(remake of Thaalavattom).

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