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Priyadarshan
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Early Life and FamilyPriyadarshan hails from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala where his father Mr.Nair worked 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 , 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.
CareerAround the same period many of his friends from Thiruvananthapuram joined the film industry including Superstar Mohanlal, singer M. G. Sreekumar, producer Suresh Kumar are 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.
Foray into Hindi Remakes
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).
Allegations of PlagiarismSeveral critics have pointed out that Priyadarsan relies on plagiarism from other films, particularly critically or commercially successful Hollywood productions. For instance, Thalavattam is heavily based on the Oscar winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Other notable instances include Vandanam (Stakeout), Kakkakuyil (A Fish Called Wanda), Malamaal Weekly (Waking Ned Divine), Garam Masala (Boeing Boeing). His Hindi films are mostly remakes of older Malayalam movies, usually of a different director and screenwriter.
The original directors and screenwriters are either not acknowledged in the Hindi version, or are acknowledged simply under 'Story'. For instances Hulchul was originally written and directed by Siddique-Lal who was not credited as the screenwriter in spite of it being an exact copy (with dialogues translated to Hindi). Soon after the release of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, in an interview with Rediff.com, the original screenwriter Madhu Muttam claimed that he was not consulted with and the original director, Fazil (also Priyadarshan's mentor) refused to comment on the film. When asked about plagiarism accusations, Priyadarshan told The Hindu that "Today, 99% of the films are copied" . It is also a generally held opinion that Priyadarshan's remakes are far inferior in quality to the originals.
The table below lists the remakes Priyadarshan has made in Hindi vs the original film:
>| Film | Year - Cast | Original Film | Year - Cast
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| Pirate (film) | 2008 - Kunal Khemu, Deepika Padukone, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav |
| | Billo Barber | 2008 - Irfan Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Lara Dutta | Kadha Parayumbol | 2007 - Sreenivasan, Mammootty, Mukesh, Jagathy, Meena.
Director - R.Mohanan
| | Mere Baap Pehele Aap | 2008 - Akshay Khanna,Paresh Rawal | Ishtam | 2001 - Dileep, Nedumudi Venu.
Director - Sibi Malayil
| | Dhol | 2007 - Tusshar Kapoor, Kunal Khemu, Rajpal Yadav, Sharman Joshi | In Harihar Nagar | 1990 - Mukesh, Siddique, Jagadish, Asokan. Director - Siddique-Lal
| | Bhool Bhulaiya | 2007 - Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Shiney Ahuja,Amisha Patel | Manichitrathazhu | 1993 - Mohanlal,Suresh Gopi,Shobana Director - Fazil
| | Bhagam Bhag | 2006 - Akshay Kumar, Govinda, Paresh Rawal, Lara Dutta | Mannar Mathai SpeakingNadodikkattu | 1995 - Mukesh, Saikumar, Innocent, Vaani Viswanath. Director - Mani C kapan | | Malamaal Weekly | 2006 - Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Ritesh Deshmukh, Reema Sen | Waking Ned Divine(English) | 1995 - Ian Bannen, David Kelly ,Fionnula FlanaganDirector - Kirk Jones
| | Chup Chup Ke | 2006 - Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor | Punjabi House | 1998 - Dileep, Mohini. Director - Rafi & Macartin
| | Kyon Ki | 2005 - Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rimi Sen | Thalavattam | 1986 - Mohanlal, Karthika, Lizy. Director - Priyadarshan
| | Garam Masala | 2005 - Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Paresh Rawal | Boeing Boeing | 1985 - Mohanlal, Mukesh, Sukumari. Director - Priyadarshan
| | Hulchul | 2004 - Akshay Khanna, Kareena Kapoor, Amrish Puri | Godfather | 1991 - Mukesh, Kanaka, N.N. Pillai. Director - Siddique & Lal
| | Satyaghat - Crime Never Pays | 2003- Mohanlal, Rami Reddy | Abhimanyu | 1992 - Mohanlal, Rami Reddy, Director - Priyadarshan
| | Hungama | 2003 - Akshay Khanna, Rimi Sen, Aftab Shivdasani | Poochakkoru Mookkuthi | 1984 - Mohanlal, Menaka, Shankar. Director - Priyadarshan
| | Laysa Laysa | 2002 (Tamil) - Shaam, Trisha Krishnan, Madhavan | Summer in Bethlahem Cheppu | 1998 - Jayaram, Suresh Gopi, Manju Warrier. Director - Sibi Malayil
1980 - Mohanlal. Director - Priyadarshan
| | Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar | 2001 - Sunil Shetty, Mahima Chaudhry | Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam | 1986 - Mohanlal, Karthika. Director - Satyan Anthikad
| | Hera Pheri | 2001 - Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal | Ramji Rao Speaking | 1989 - Mukesh, Saikumar, Innocent. Director - Siddique & Lal
| | Kabhi Na Kabhi | 1998 - Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff,Paresh Rawal,Pooja Bhat | - | -
| | Doli Saja Ke Rakhna | 1998 - Akshay Khanna, Jyothika | Aniyathi Pravu | 1997 - Kunchako Boban, Shalini. Director - Fazil
| | Virasat | 1997 - Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Pooja Batra | Thevar Magan (Tamil) | 1992 - Kamal Haasan, Revathi, Gauthami. Director - Bharathan
| | Saat Rang Ke Sapne | 1997 - Arvind Swamy, Juhi Chawla | Thenmavin Kombath | 1994 - Mohanlal, Sobhana. Director - Priyadarshan
| | Gardish | 1993 - Jackie Shroff, Amrish Puri | Kireedam | 1989 - Mohanlal, Thilakan. Director - Sibi Malayil
| | Chori Chori | 1988 - Mithun Chakravorthy, Gauthami (Hindi version directed by K.BAPPAIAH) | Chithram | 1988 - Mohanlal, Renjini. Director - Priyadarshan
| | Muskurahat | 1992 - Jay Mehta, Revathi | Kilukkam | 1989 - Mohanlal, Revathi. Director - Priyadarshan
| har dil jo pyaar karege 2001 - salman khan, rani mukherji, priety zinta - chandralekha 1997 mohanlal, sreenivasan
AwardsPriyadarshan 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), (Originally made in Malayalam)which told the story of freedom fighters in the jail at Andaman and Nicobar islands, which starred Mohanlal, Amrish Puri, Prabhu etc. It bagged 4 National Awards including awards for Santosh Sivan (cinematography) and Sabu Cyril (art direction).
Selected Filmography
- Kanchipuram (2008)
- Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)
- Dhol (2007)
- Bhagam Bhag (2006)
- Vettom(2004)
- Hulchul (2004)
- Hungama (2003)
- Kilichundan Mampazham (2003)
- Kakkakuyil (2001)
- Hera Pheri (2000)
- Chandralekha (1997)
- Virasat (1997) (as Priyadarsan)
- Kala Pani (1996)
- Thenmavin Kombath (1994)
- Gardish (1993)
- Midhunam (1993)
- Abhimanyu (1991)
- Advaitham (1991)
- Kilukkam (1991)
- Akkare Akkare Akkare (1990)
- Vandanam (1989)
- Chithram (1988)
- Aryan (1988)
- Mukunthetta Sumitra Vilikkunnu (1988)
- Vellanakalude Naadu (1988)
- Cheppu (1987)
- Hello My Dear: Wrong Number (1986)
- Ninnishtam Ennishtam (1986)
- Thalavattam (1986)
- Aram + Aram = Kinnaram (1985)
- Boeing Boeing (1985)
- Poochakkoru Mookkuthi (1984)
External links
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