Jeethu Joseph (born 10 November 1972) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He has also worked in a few Tamil,

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

films. Jeethu made his directional debut with the 2007

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eithe ...

, ''

Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads t ...

''. He is best known for the

crime thrillers Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

, ''

Drishyam ''Drishyam'' () is a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film written and directed by Jeethu Joseph. It stars Mohanlal and Meena, with Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Asha Sharath, Siddique, Roshan Basheer a ...

'' and '' Drishyam 2''. ''Drishyam'' became the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever, at its time of release. It was the first Malayalam film to cross the 50 crore mark, at the box office. '' Drishyam 2'' was released directly through

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service p ...

, due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

pandemic. Like the prequel, it was highly acclaimed and appreciated, worldwide. His other works include '' Mummy & Me'' (2010), '' My Boss'' (2012), '' Life of Josutty'' (2015), '' Memories'' (2013), '' Oozham'' (2016), '' Aadhi'' (2018). Jeethu made his Tamil debut with '' Papanasam'' (2015) which is a remake of his 2014 film ''

'',

debut with ''

The Body The Body may refer to: Literature * ''The Body'' (short story), a short story by Camillo Boito * ''The Body'' (novella), a novel written by Stephen King * ''The Body'' (Sapir novel), a novel by Richard Sapir * ''The Body'' (Kureishi novel), ...

'' (2019), and

debut with '' Drushyam 2'' (2021).

Early life

Jeethu was born in a

Syro-Malabar Catholic lat, Ecclesia Syrorum-Malabarensium mal, മലബാറിലെ സുറിയാനി സഭ , native_name_lang=, image = St. Thomas' Cross (Chennai, St. Thomas Mount).jpg , caption = The Mar Thoma Nasrani Sl ...

family in Mutholapuram, Muvattupuzha taluk to Leelamma and V. Joseph, ex-MLA of Muvattupuzha. Jeethu wanted to attend the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) although his father wanted him to become an engineer. He attended Fathima Matha English Medium School and later graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from

Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha Nirmala College is a first grade arts and science college in Muvattupuzha, Kerala, India run by the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. The college admits undergraduates and post-graduates and offers degrees in the liberal arts, sciences and com ...

Career

Early works

Jeethu Joseph started as an assistant director to Jayaraj in the film ''Bheebhathsam''. After that, he got a chance to direct a film starring Dileep but it did not materialize and he was back where he started. Meanwhile, Jeethu developed the one-line plot of ''Detective.'' But after failing to find any producers, his mother Leelamma Joseph offered to co-produce the film, which became his debut directorial. A month into the project, a producer evinced interest and took on the production. ''

'' was released in 2007. The film fared well at the box-office. His next film '' Mummy & Me'' was a success at the box-office. ''Mummy and Me'', although it took close to three years in the making, marked a turning point in his career as director. "My first film was easy compared to the struggle I had to go through for my second, ''Mummy and Me''." There were offers to make films like ''Detective'', but Jeethu declined. "I wanted to do a different film" It was for this reason that, though he had one line scripts of ''Mummy and Me'' and ''Memories'' ready in 2008, he chose to make ''Mummy and Me''. His third film '' My Boss'' was also a success in theatres. Jeethu's fourth movie '' Memories'', a suspense thriller, was released in 2013 which did well in box office.

Post ''Drishyam''

Towards the end of 2013, the drama-thriller ''

'' starring

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appe ...

was released, which was well received critically and commercially. It was the highest-grossing Malayalam film, until 2016, and the first Malayalam film to cross 50 crore mark at the box office. ''Drishyam'' was remade in Tamil by Jeethu with Kamal Haasan enacting Mohanlal's role. It was also remade to Telugu, Kannada and Hindi by other directors. Jeethu then directed Dileep-starrer '' Life of Josutty''.

Personal life

Jeethu married Linta and they have two children. Linta is a costume designer in Malayalam cinema.

Filmography

* ''All films are in Malayalam, otherwise noted the language''

Awards

* 2013 –

44th Kerala State Film Awards Superlatives In the 45th Kerala State Film Awards, 85 films were considered and '' Ayaal'' won the maximum number of awards (5) followed by ''Zachariayude Garbhinikal'' (4). Winners Most Awards See also * 61st National Film Awards ...

- Best Popular Film - ''

'' * 2013 – Vanitha Film Awards – Best Director – ''

'' * 2013 – Kerala Film Critics Association Awards – Best Director – ''

'' * 2013 – Jaihind TV Film Awards – Best Director – ''

'' * 2013 -

South Indian International Movie Awards South Indian International Movie Awards, also known as the SIIMA Awards, rewards the artistic and technical achievements of the South Indian film industry. It was launched in 2012 by Vishnu Vardhan Induri and Brinda Prasad Adusimilli to appre ...

- Best Director -

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeethu Joseph Malayalam film directors Malayali people Living people Malayalam screenwriters 1972 births Kannada screenwriters People from Muvattupuzha Tamil screenwriters Telugu screenwriters Film directors from Kochi 21st-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Screenwriters from Kochi 21st-century Indian screenwriters Telugu film directors