Priyadarshan is a popular film director from Kerala, India. He has directed numerous popular hit movies in Malayalam in the 1980s and 1990s. In Bollywood, he is known for making remakes of Malayalam films, not always his own, and seldom with attribution. Some of his earlier malayalam movies such as Thalavattom(copied from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film) and Boeing Boeing(copied from Boeing Boeing (1965 film) were similarly copied from Hollywood.Priyadarshan 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 Lizzy (Parvathi), on the sets of his second film. They have worked together in twelve movies. He has two children, daughter Kalyani and son Sidharth. Actor Mohanlal is one of Priyadarshan's closest friends.
Around the same period many of his friends from Thiruvananthapuram joined the film industry including actor 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.
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) and Chup Chup Ke (2006) (remake of Punjabi House).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, 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).
Several 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 Kakkakuyil (A Fish Called Wanda), Malamaal Weekly (Waking Ned), 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 Hulchal was originally written and directed by Siddique-Lal who was not credited as the screenwriter inspite of it being an exact copy (with dialogues translated to Hindi). Soon after the release of Bhool Bhulaiyya, 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.
