Nelson Dilipkumar, credited in films as Nelson, is an Indian director and screenwriter who predominantly works in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

. His films are action thrillers and are known for featuring elements of

dark humor Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

. Nelson won the Best Screenplay Award in Norway Tamil Film Festival for his directorial debut ''

Kolamaavu Kokila ''Kolamaavu Kokila'' () (abbrev. COCO) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language black-comedy crime film written and directed by Nelson in his directorial debut, and produced by Lyca Productions. The film stars Nayanthara alongside a supporting cast ...

''. He was listed among the Promising Directors of 2018 in

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...

article.

Film career

Nelson holds a degree in visual communication from New College, Chennai. He started his career as an assistant script-writer in

Star Vijay Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly Star India), a subsidiary of Asianet Star Communications. The channel's headquarters is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Star Vijay change ...

. Nelson started his work on what was originally intended to have been his directorial debut, ''Vettai Mannan'', in 2010. The film would have starred

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar, nicknamed as Simbu or his initials S. T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker and musician in Tamil cinema. He began his acting career by playing roles as a child artist in films directed by his father T. Rajendar, b ...

, Jai, Hansika Motwani and

Deeksha Seth Deeksha Seth (born 14 February 1990) is an Indian actress and model. A finalist in Femina Miss India in 2009, she made her acting debut in the Telugu film '' Vedam'' (2010). Early life Seth was born on 14 February 1990 in Delhi. Since her fathe ...

, would have been produced by NIC Arts's S. S. Chakravarthy, and would have featured music by

Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja or Abdul Haliq (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Wes ...

. However, the film was shelved for unknown reasons halfway through production. There was an attempt to revive the project in 2017 with a new crew, such as Anirudh Ravichander replacing Yuvan Shankar Raja as the composer. However, the project failed to take off again. Anirudh Ravichander helped Nelson make his actual debut feature film as writer-director, the dark comedy ''

'', starring Nayanthara in the lead role. The film, produced by

Lyca Productions Lyca Productions is an Indian entertainment company, which was established by Subaskaran Allirajah in 2014. A subgroup of Lycamobile, the production studio has been involved in the production and distribution of Tamil films made in India. It h ...

, released on 17 August 2018 and became a commercial success. His next film was ''Doctor'', starring

Sivakarthikeyan Sivakarthikeyan (born 17 February 1985), also referred to as SK, is an Indian actor, singer, film producer, lyricist, and television presenter, who works predominantly in Tamil films. He has also won a Tamil Nadu State Film Award, four Edison ...

in the lead role opposite

Priyanka Arul Mohan Priyanka Arul Mohan also known as Priyanka Mohan (born 20 November 1994) is an Indian actress who primarily appears in Tamil and Telugu films. She made her acting debut with 2019 Kannada film '' Ondh Kathe Hella'', and Telugu debut with '' Nan ...

. The film became one of the biggest Tamil-language blockbusters among films that released theatrically after the pandemic-induced lockdowns. In November 2020, composer Anirudh Ravichander introduced Nelson to actor Vijay, who was impressed with Nelson's script for ''Beast''. The film, an action-comedy thriller and Vijay's 65th film, also starring

Pooja Hegde Pooja Hegde (; born 13 October 1990) is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Telugu films, in addition to Hindi and Tamil films. She began her career as a model and was crowned as the second runner-up at the 2010 I Am She–Miss Univ ...

, was released on 13 April 2022 as a pan-Indian film dubbed in the Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam languages. ''Beast'' collected 240 crore at the worldwide box office. Nelson's next project is for Rajinikanth’s 169th film which is tentatively titled ''Thalaivar 169''. On 17 June 2022, the title was announced to be ''

Jailer A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...

''. Rajinikanth will be playing the role of an experienced jailer in this film. The film will be released in the month of summer in 2023.

Filmography

Recurring collaborations

Editor R. Nirmal, Music composer Anirudh Ravichander has worked in four films. Actors

Yogi Babu Yogi Babu (born 22 July 1985) is an Indian actor and comedian, who appears in Tamil films. A three time Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award winner, he performed in '' Aandavan Kattalai'' (2016), ''Kolamavu Kokila'' (2018) and '' Pariyerum Perumal'' (2 ...

, Redin Kingsley, and

Shaji Chen Shaji Chen (also credited as Shaji and Shaji Chennai) is an Indian writer and actor. Shaji's main area of writing is music and cinema related. Shaji writes in Tamil, Malayalam, English languages and acts in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. W ...

have worked on three movies. Bjorn Surrao, Sunil Reddy, Shiva Aravind, and

Arun Alexander Arun Alexander (14 October 1973 – 28 December 2020) was an Indian actor and a dubbing artist for Tamil-language films. He was notably seen in '' Maanagaram'', ''Bigil'', '' Kolamavu Kokila'', ''Kaithi'', ''Master'' and was seen next posthumous ...

acted in two films. D. R. K. Kiran has done the art direction in two films. Stunt director Anbariv have worked in two films. Sivakarthikeyan has written lyrics for 3 out of 4 movies.Vijay Kartik Kannan did cinematography for two movies.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson Living people Tamil film directors Year of birth missing (living people)