Ashraf Hamza is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both th ...

. Hailing from

Ponnani Ponnani () is a Nagar Palika (Municipality), municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the est ...

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a municipality and town in Kerala and the headquarters of the Malappuram district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Kerala, 4th largest urban agglomeration in Kerala and ...

, he debuted with 2019 Malayalam movie ''

Thamaasha ''Thamaasha'' () is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language film written and directed by Ashraf Hamza and produced by Sameer Thahir, Shyju Khalid, Lijo Jose Pellissery and Chemban Vinod Jose.The film stars Vinay Forrt, Chinnu Chandni, Divya Prabha ...

''. His second directorial feature was ''

Bheemante Vazhi ''Bheemante Vazhi'' () is a 2021 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film directed by Ashraf Hamza and written by Chemban Vinod Jose. It stars Kunchacko Boban and Megha Thomas, with Jose, Jinu Joseph, Naseer Sankranthi, Divya M. Nair and Chin ...

'' (2021). He was the co-writer of 2022 movie ''

Thallumaala ''Thallumaala'' () is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language action comedy film directed by Khalid Rahman, produced by Ashiq Usman and written by Muhsin Parari and Ashraf Hamza. The film stars Tovino Thomas, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Shine Tom Chacko and ...

.''

Early life

He was born in

, Kerala. His father owned a movie theatre named '''Alankar in Ponnani. Hamza said his enthusiasm in movies were developed from there, as he spent much of his holidays within the theatre. Some of his childhood experiences with the movie theatre were included in the movie ''

.''

Career

He started his career by directing a short film based on U. P. Jayaraj's short story '''Bihar. Later he directed some documentaries, short films and ad films. It was his friendship with director Muhsin Parari that led to the possibility of doing a feature-length project. He was approached by Muhsin to write a movie after Muhsin's directorial debut ''KL 10 Patthu'' was failed to perform in box office, but the project was shelved (this was later turned out to be the 2022 movie ''

''). He was asked by Lijo Jose Pellissery and Chemban Vinod Jose to direct an independent adaptation of 2017 Kannada movie ''Ondu Motteya Kathe''. Ashraf Hamza approached Sameer Thahir and Shyju Khalid with this project and they agreed to produce the movie along with Lijo Jose Pellissery and Chemban Vinod Jose. The project was conceived under the title ''

'' and Sameer Thahir handled the cinematography with Vinay Forrt and Chinnu Chandni in lead roles. The movie was released on 19 June 2019 to critical acclaim. His second directorial feature was ''

'', which was released in December 2021. Chemban Vinod Jose scripted and produced this movie with Kunchacko Boban as the lead. The movie was a moderate box office success and won critical acclaim. ''

'', his writing collaboration with Muhsin Parari was released in August 2022 and turned out to be one of the highest grossing Malayalam films. His third movie as a director is ''Sulaikha Manzil'' with Lukman Avaran and Anarkali Marikar in lead roles. The movie was released in April 2023.

Filmography

Trivia

* Ashraf Hamza introduced Muhsin Parari as a lyricist. Muhsin was asked to complete the lines of ''Paadi Njan'', an incomplete Mappila songs, Mappilappaattu written by Pulikkottil Hyder into a full-length song for the movie ''

''. Later on Muhsin Parari wrote all the songs in all of Ashraf Hamza's movies. * All of Ashraf Hamza's movies were shot in and around his hometown

. Except for ''

'', the plots were also set in Ponnani. * Chemban Vinod Jose acted as the co-producer of all three movies directed by Ashraf Hamza and scripted one, ''Bheemante Vazhi.''

Controversy

On 27 April 2025, Hamza along with Khalid Rahman and another person was arrested from an Apartment nearby Goshree bridges, Goshree Bridge, Kochi by Excise Department for possession of 1.63 grams of Cannabis (drug), Hybrid Cannabis.

References

External links

* {{IMDb name, id=10622004, name=Ashraf Hamza Malayalam film directors Malayali people Film directors from Malappuram district Living people Indian Muslims Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from Kerala