John Mathew Matthan is an Indian filmmaker.
John started his career as an assistant director on the epic movie Gandhi, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough. Govind Nihlani was also working on the same film. John went on to assist Govind Nihlani on several of his films before starting out on his own as an ad-film maker. John was offered to direct a film at the age of 24 but he rejected the offer since he felt he wasn't mature enough to direct yet. He directed his first film, Sarfarosh[1] at the age of 38.
John knew he wanted to become a director since a very young age. He started his production company Cinematt Pictures Pvt Ltd at Famous studio in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai. John's brother George was also involved in Cinematt Pictures. John started working on Sarfarosh in 1992. Seven years were spent on the research, pre-production and production till it finally released in 1999. The film was a hit both critically and commercially.
Post 'Sarfarosh', John started working on a script which involved the issue of brain drain. But after the 9/11 tragedy, the script lost its pertinence and John moved on to another idea which germinated in the form of 'Shikhar'.
John's second film 'Shikhar', although critically acclaimed did not fare too well at the box office. Expectations were very high from the maker of 'Sarfarosh' and probably that is what caused 'Shikhar' to sink.
John's next film titled A New Love Ishtory which is written by Vipul K Rawal of Iqbal (film) fame[2] starring Himesh Reshammiya and newcomer Niharika Singh is 90% complete and will release this year.
He already has another script complete which is once again written by Vipul K Rawal shooting for which will commence after the above film releases. It is a political and historic thriller. The movie that is based on the writer's experience in the Indian Navy and true classified events, took the writer more than five years to research. The story spans 40 years and may cost upwards of Rs. 100 Crores.
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