Priyadarshan Soman Nair (Priyadarshan)

Born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Priyadarshan Soman Nair ( Priyadarshan), is a Film Director, Producer, and Screenwriter.

He began his career as a film director in 1984 with the movie Poochakkoru Mookkuthi (1984). He has directed more than 90 films in various Indian languages, predominantly in Malayalam.

He has been mainly active in Hindi cinema from 2001-to 2010. He has done about 27 films in Hindi. He is known for adapting stories from Malayalam films into Bollywood.

He has done writing for about 40 films (Story/Screen Writer/Dialogues etc)

Priyadarshan received his education at Government Model School, Trivandrum and obtained a Master of Arts in Philosophy from University College Trivandrum.

In 2012, Priyadarshan was awarded Padma Shri ( the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India) for his contribution to the arts.

He has won numerous awards during his career, notably 3 National Awards and 2 Kerala State Film Awards.

Priyadarshan is the eldest son of Soman Nair and Rajamma. He has a younger sister.

He married popular actress Lissy on 13 December 1990, the couple got divorced in 2016. They have two children Kalyani Priyadarshan (actress ) and Sidharth Priyadarshan.

Priyadarshan's collaborations with Mohanlal were highly popular in Malayalam cinema, most notable films include Poochakkoru Mookkuthi (1984, directorial debut ) Chithram (1988), Vandanam (1989) Kilukkam (1991) etc. Their latest collaboration is the film Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham (2021).