Diphan – Malayalam film director of Puthiya Mukham fame

Diphan was a Malayalam film director best known for 2009 critically acclaimed and commercially successful film – Puthiya Mukham starring Prithviraj, Priyamani and Meera Nandan. Leader in 2003 was his debut film as a director followed by Puthiya Mukham. Hero, SIM and Dolphin Bar were his other releases, apart from directing one segment Vadakkumnathan from D Company. Puthiya Mukham is his single commercial hit. Diphan is the son of iconic dubbing artist of Malayalam cinema, Anandavally. He passed away in March 2017 aged only 45 due to liver-related ailments.    

Diphan was born in Thiruvananthapuram into a family related to films. He was born in 1972 to Anandavally – a film and theater actress, best known as a dubbing artist. His father Veliyath Chandran (Chandrasekharan Pillai) was a manager of famous Merryland film studio. His parents were distant relatives before marriage. As a film director he made an unsuccessful debut with Leader in 2003 starring Vijayakumar, Sadiq, Vijayaraghavan etc. He returned in a bang after 6 years with the film, Puthiya Mukham which was praised by critics, and the movie was also accepted by audience. However he couldn’t replicate his success for next films. He was working on Satya starring Jayaram when he passed away.

Diphan – Some interesting and unknown facts

1. His mother Anandavally was one of the earliest dubbing artists of Malayalam cinema, who started her dubbing career in the 1970s and worked in more than 3000 films. She has dubbed for almost all dubbing artists of Mollywood since then.

2. Bollywood actress Yami Gautam who was a model till then made her acting debut with Diphan’s Hero. Thus he is credited to giving her a break in films. Though the film was a box office failure, she went on to become a known face in Bollywood. It was Diphan’s second association with Prithviraj after Puthiya Mukham.

3. His mother passed away in April 2019, just two years after Diphan’s death in March 2017.

4. Director Sajith Jagadnandan was his assistant for the film Puthiya Mukham. In 2016 when he turned a film director, he coined the film title Ore Mugham for his debut film. Interestingly both the films were campus oriented and became box office hits too.