Priyadarshan
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| Occupation: | film director |
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. In Bollywood, he is known for making remakes of Malayalam films, not always his own, and seldom with attribution.
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[edit] Film career in Malayalam
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. Around the same period many of his friends from Thiruvananthapuram joined the film industry including actor Mohanlal, singer M. G. Sreekumar, producer Suresh Kumar are few among them.
Priyadarshan's father was a librarian in Thiruvananthapuram. It was here that he got the opportunity to read literary works of famous writers. His fascination for comics and fairy tales still reflects in his movies.
Priyadarshan ventured into film director by accident. 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 most successful films directed by Priyadarshan. Their best work till date has been considered as Chithram (Malayalam, 1987).
[edit] Making of remakes
Apart from Malayalam films Priyadarshan has also directed Hindi, Tamil and Telugu movies. His foray into Bollywood was with the movie Muskurahat (1993). This was a failure at the boxoffice and it went largely unnoticed. His first successful Hindi film was Gardish (1994).
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 directed a string of remakes including Hera Pheri (2000) ( remake of "Ramji Rao Speaking"), Hungama (2003) (remake of Poochakkoru Mookkuthi), Hulchul (2004) ( remake of "Godfather") and Garam Masala (2005) ( remake of "Boeing Boeing"). Priyadarshan has worked with banners like Sahara One, Percept Picture Company, Venus, K Sera Sera as a director.
Priyadarshans movies are famous for their rich exotic visuals, songs and simple humour. One of his most visually appealing works was the award winning Thenmavin Kombath (Malayalam, 1994). As a director he has refined his technique of story telling over the years. This can be seen in Kilukkam (1991, Malayalam), Abhimanyu (1992, Malayalam) and Kaalapaani (1996) . 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, Kabhi Na Kabhi (1997), Doli Sajake Rakhna (1998), Yeh Tera Ghar Ye Mera Ghar (2002) and Kyonki (2005).
This table lists the remakes Priyadarshan has made in Hindi vs the original film :
| Film in Hindi | Year - Cast | Film in Malayalam | Year - Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bhagam Bhag | 2006 - Akshay Kumar, Govinda | Mannar Mathai Speaking | 1995 - Mukesh, innocent, vaani vishwanath |
| Chup Chup Ke | 2006 - Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor | Punjabi House | 1998 - Dilip, Mohini |
| Kyon Ki | 2005 - Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rimi Sen | Thalavattam | 1986 - Mohanlal, Karthika, Lizy |
| Garam Masala | 2005 - Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Paresh Rawal | Boeing Boeing | 1985 - Mohanlal, Mukesh, Sukumari |
| Hulchul | 2004 - Akshay Khanna, Kareena Kapoor, Amrish Puri | Godfather | 1991 - Mukesh, Kanaka, N.N. Pillai |
| Hungama | 2003 - Akshay Khanna, Rimi Sen, Aftab Shivadasani | Poochakkoru Mookkuthi | 1984 - Mohanlal, Menaka, Shankar |
| Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar | 2001 - Sunil Shetty, Mahima Chaudhry | Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam | 1986 - Mohanlal, Karthika |
| Hera Pheri | 2001 - Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal | Ramji Rao Speaking | 1989 - Mukesh, Saikumar, Innocent |
| Doli Saja Ke Rakhna | 1998 - Akshay Khanna, Jyothika | Aniyathi Pravu | 1997 - Kunchako Boban, Shalini |
| Virasat | 1997 - Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Pooja Batra | Thevar Magan (Tamil) | 1992 - Kamal Haasan, Revathi, Gauthami |
| Saat Rang Ke Sapne | 1997 - Arvind Swamy, Juhi Chawla | Thenmavin Kombath | 1994 - Mohanlal, Sobhana |
| Gardish | 1993 - Jackie Shroff, Amrish Puri | Kireedam | 1989 - Mohanlal, Thilakan
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| Chori Chori | 1988 - Mithun Chakravorthy, Gauthami | Chithram | 1988 - Mohanlal, Rajini |
| Muskurahat | 1992 - Jay Mehta, Revathi | Kilukkam | 1989 - Mohanlal, Revathi |
[edit] Awards
Priyadarshan has won awards both from the State and Central government for his movies, He won the Kerala State Award for Best Director in 1995. He made a mulitilingual Kalapaani (1996) which told the story of freedom fighters in the jail at Andaman and Nicobar islands. It became as showcase for talented technicians from Malayalam to get noticed at the national level. It bagged 4 National Awards including awards for Santosh Sivan (cinematography) and Sabu Cyril (art direction).
[edit] Family
Priyadarshan met his wife, Malayalam actress Lizy, on the sets of his second film. They have worked together in twelve movies. He has two children, daughter Kalyani and son Sidharth. Priyadarshan's best friend is Mohanlal.
