Bobby–Sanjay – Leading screenwriters of Malayalam cinema

Bobby and Sanjay – sons of popular actor Prem Prakash are leading screenwriters of current generation Malayalam cinema. The siblings have together scripted many blockbusters and highly acclaimed Malayalam movies of present times. They started off their career in 2003 with the highly acclaimed movie, Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum and later scripted some of the best movies such as Notebook, Traffic, Ayalum Njanum Thammil, Mumbai Police, How Old Are You, Nirnnayakam, Kayamkulam Kochunni, Uyare etc. Their paternal uncle Jose Prakash was an iconic villain of Malayalam screen.

Born into a family of actors

The brothers – Bobby and Sanjay was born into a family of actors – Jose Prakash and Prem Prakash. Though associated with cine world, the siblings decided to choose another field, and as screenwriters they cemented their position in Mollywood within a short time span. Initially they wrote scripts for TV serials since early 2000s. Avasthantharangal in 2001 starring their uncle Jose Prakash was their debut work, followed by Avicharitham. They continued writing serial scripts after joining films.

Marked their film career with 2006 movie, Notebook directed by the debutante Rosshan Andrrews, in the next 15 years they scripted only 11 movies, and most of them were commercial hits. They became the new face of Malayalam cinema, exploring many new themes and successfully converting them to box office hits.

After Notebook it took 5 long years for their next release

Their second movie, Traffic directed by Rajesh Pillai was released only in 2011. But the movie based on hyperlink style became a trendsetter and the brothers bagged several awards for best screenplay. It includes both Kerala State Film Award and Critics’ choice award for Best Screenplay. In 2012, he joined hands with Roshan for their second project together, Casanovva, which was a commercial failure. Their association with the same director for 2016 movie, School Bus was also a commercial failure. But all their scripts converted to movies between 2012 and 2020 were commercial hits, which make them leading screenwriters of the decade of 2010s.

Bobby and Sanjay – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Bobby-Sanjay has frequently collaborated with the director Rosshan Andrrews, right from his debut movie, Notebook in 2006. Mumbai Police, How Old Are You, Kayamkulam Kochunni, School Bus and Casanovva are their collaborations later.

2. Evidey is the single movie of their career, for which they wrote story, but not the script.

3. Till 2020, they scripted only 12 movies in around 15 years. The brothers give preference to quality than quantity.

4. They scripted three TV serials directed by K. K. Rajeev – Avicharitham (2004), Aagneyam (2009) and Eshwaran Saakshiyayi (2015). They also scripted Avaril Oraal (2017-18) in the recent past.

5. They are often addressed as ‘Feminist’ writers of Malayalam cinema. They have scripted female centric movies like Notebook and How Old Are You, both directed by Rosshan Andrrews. Uyare directed by Manu Ashokan also belongs to this category.

6. They are the recipients of two Kerala State Film Awards for Best Screenplay – Traffic and Mumbai Police. How Old Are You earned Kerala Film Critics Association Awards for Best Screenplay and Traffic bagged Kerala Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay.

7. Bobby, the elder brother is also a physician by profession who practises in Kottayam. Sanjay is settled in Kochi.