Jeethu Joseph – Malayalam filmmaker of ‘Drishyam’ fame

Jeethu Joseph is an ace Indian filmmaker and screenwriter, who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He has also directed movies in Hindi and Tamil. He owns numerous hit films to his credit, and currently is one of the most sought film directors of Bollywood. He started his career with 2007 hit thriller Detective starring Suresh Gopi, and after directing hit films – Mummy & Me (2010), My Boss (2012), and Memories (2013), he shot to instant fame after directing the family-thriller Drishyam (2013) starring Mohanlal. He marked his Tamil debut with Papanasam (2015) starring Kamal Hassan and Hindi debut with The Body (2019).

Jeethu Joseph hails from Mutholapuram, Ernakulam, and he was born in year 1972. After graduating in economics from Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha, he started his film journey under acclaimed director Jayaraj in year 2002. It was for a Hindi film, Bhibatsa. After working under him for a few years he marked his directorial debut with Detective, which was a commercial hit. From there on, he gave a series of hits. Drishyam (2013) became one of the top popular family entertainers ever, a huge sensation and also broke all collection records of Mollywood till then. The movie also bagged him numerous awards including Kerala Film Critics Association Awards for Best Director.

Earlier in 2013 he also surprised audience with yet another thriller starring Prithviraj, Memories.  In 2016 he directed one more Prithviraj film Oozham which fared average. He marked his debut in Bollywood in 2019 with the disaster movie, The Body, starring Rishi Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi and Vedhika. Same year he tasted success with Jyotika-Karthi starrer Tamil family drama, Thampi. His much anticipated project Ram releases in 2020. The movie stars Mohanlal and Trisha.

Jeethu Joseph – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He wanted to make his directorial debut with a film starring Dileep, but didn’t materialize. Later he directed Dileep in My Boss and Life of Josutty, and both were successful ventures.

2. His first directorial venture Detective was co-produced by his mother, as he couldn’t find a film producer. Later he convinced one producer too. The movie was a commercial hit.

3. The idea of his most popular film Drishyam germinated in his mind in 2002, and it took more than a decade to give a full structure.

4. Drishyam (2013) became the first Malayalam film to cross 50 crore mark at the box office. It was remade in different languages, and all proved to be hits. In fact he marked his Tamil debut with its remake titled Papanasam. Interestingly the movie title of Telugu, Kannada and Hindi are also Drishyam.

5. Drishyam was remade to Singhalese and also became the first Indian film to be remade to Chinese. Both the versions, released in 2017 and 2019 respectively were commercial hits. Yes, the movie was loved across the boundaries, and easily connected with people belonging to different cultures.

6. He dreamt to study at FTII, and wanted to become a filmmaker, though his father wanted to see him as an engineer.

7. He directed Mohanlal’s son Pranav Mohanlal in Aadi and Jayaram’s son Kalidas Jayaram in Mr. & Ms. Rowdy.

8. His wife Linta works as a costume designer in Malayalam cinema since 2012 and designs clothes for all movies directed by her husband.

9. Initially he wanted to mark his Hindi debut with the remake of Drishyam, with Rishi Kapoor reprising the lead role of Mohanlal. But things didn’t materialize. However he marked his Bollywood debut with The Body, with Rishi Kapoor playing the parallel lead. Ironically, the movie became the last release of the legendary actor, who had 5 decades of experience in Hindi cinema.