Haneef Adeni – Malayalam filmmaker of ‘Marco’ fame

by Sandy · January 16, 2025

Haneef Adeni is a film director and screenwriter associated with Malayalam cinema. He shot to instant fame after his 2024 film Marco received Pan India appeal. It’s the first Malayalam cinema achieving this status. The movie marked as the most violent film on Indian screen also achieved a cult status. He has earlier directed hit films like The Great Father starring Mammootty, which was his debut film.

Haneef Adeni directed his first movie in 2017

Haneef Adeni was born on 30 June 1987. His debut film was The Great Father starring Mammootty in 2017, which was a commercial success. Next year he scripted Mammootty’s Abrahaminte Santhathikal. As a director he returned the following year with Mikhael with Nivin Pauley in lead & Unni Mukundan as antagonist. The movie was panned by critics and was a commercial failure.

In 2023 he directed Ramachandra Boss & Co, starring his favourite Nivin Pauley again. It was his comeback to direction after 4 years. But the movie was a disaster.

Marco’s success established his career in action genre films

He was desperate for a hit when Marco hit theatres during December 2024. The movie came as the surprise hit of the year. Though the movie was censored with A-certificate, it received overwhelming responses from public. Made on a huge budget of 30 crores, the movie grossed over 100 crores, thus becoming the 9^th Malayalam film achieving this milestone. Its dubbed version in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu collectively earned over 20 crores. Thus Marco became the first Malayalam Pan India film. The movie achieved a rare feat, where both hero and villain were equally appreciated for their screen presence. Now the team is planning for Marco sequel with a big budget.