Gautham Menon

Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil film industry.

He has also directed Telugu and Hindi films that either simultaneously shot with or remakes of his own Tamil films.

Gautham was born on 25 February 1973 in Ottapalam, a town in the Palakkad district of Kerala.

His father Vasudeva Menon was a Malayali and his mother Uma was Tamil.

Although born in Kerala, he grew up in Anna Nagar, Chennai.

Menon did his schooling at the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School.

He then earned a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mookambigai College of Engineering, Pudukkottai.

He can speak English, Malayalam, and Tamil fluently.

Menon's time at university inspired him to write the lead roles of Minnale, Vaaranam Aayiram, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, Neethaane En Ponvasantham and Enai Noki Paayum Thota who were students in the same course.

During the period, he was inspired by films such as Dead Poets Society (1989) and Nayakan (1987) and expressed his desire to his parents to change his career path and become a filmmaker.

His mother insisted that he become an ad filmmaker by shooting various commercials and he took an apprenticeship under filmmaker Rajiv Menon.

He went on to work as an assistant director for Minsara Kanavu (1997), in which he also appeared in a cameo role.

Menon launched a Tamil romance film O Lala in 2000 with the project eventually changing producers and titles into Minnale (2001) with Madhavan, who was at the beginning of his career, being signed on to portray the lead role.

About the making of the film, Menon revealed that he found it difficult as the team was new to the industry with only the editor of the film, Suresh Urs, being an experienced technician.

Menon came under further pressure when Madhavan insisted that the film's story was narrated to the actor's mentor, Mani Ratnam, to identify if the film was a positive career move.

Despite initial reservations, Menon did so and Ratnam was unimpressed; however, Menon has since cited that he thought that Madhavan "felt sorry" and later agreed to continue with the project.

The film also featured Abbas and newcomer Reemma Sen in significant roles, whilst Menon introduced Harris Jayaraj as music composer with the film.

Many of his films have been both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, most notably his romantic films Minnale (2001), Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010), his cop action thrillers Kaakha Kaakha (2003), Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006), Yennai Arindhaal (2015) and his gangster drama Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu (2022).

The film was advertised as a Valentine's Day release in 2001 and told the tale of a young man who falls in love with the girl engaged to his ex-college rival.

Upon release it went on to become a large success commercially and won positive reviews from critics, with claims that the film had a lot of "lot of verve and vigour" and that it was "technically excellent".

The success of the film led producer Vashu Bhagnani to sign him on to direct the Hindi language remake of the film, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein (2001), starring Madhavan alongside Dia Mirza and Saif Ali Khan.

Menon was initially apprehensive but said it eventually took "half an hour" to agree, but against his intentions, the producer opted against retaining the technical crew of the original.

He changed a few elements, deleted certain scenes and added some more for the version.

A critic felt that "the presentation is not absorbing" though stating that Menon "handled certain sequences with aplomb"; the film subsequently became a below-average box office performer.

The failure of the film left him disappointed, with Menon claiming in hindsight that the film lacked the simplicity of the original with the producer's intervention affecting proceedings.

Several years after release, the film later gained popularity through screenings on television and subsequently developed a cult following amongst young Hindi-speaking audiences.

Later on in 2001, it was reported that he was working on a film tentatively titled Iru Vizhi Unadhu, though the project did not develop into production.

Gautham Menon returned in 2003 by directing the realistic police thriller Kaakha Kaakha (2003) starring Suriya, Jyothika and Jeevan.

The film portrayed the personal life of a police officer and how his life is affected by gangsters, showing a different perspective of police in comparison to other Tamil films of the time.

Menon revealed that he was inspired to make the film after reading articles on how to encounter specialists who shoot gangsters and how their families get threatening calls in return, and initially approached Madhavan, Ajith Kumar and then Vikram for the role without success, with all three actors citing that they did not want to play a police officer.

The lead actress Jyothika asked Menon to consider Suriya for the role, and he was subsequently selected after Menon saw his portrayal in Nandha.

He held a rehearsal of the script with the actors, a costume trial with Jyothika and then enrolled Suriya in a commando training school before beginning production, which he described as a "very planned shoot".

The film consequently opened to very positive reviews from critics on the way to becoming another success for Menon, with critics labeling it as a "career high film".

Furthermore, the film was described as "for action lovers who believe in logical storylines and deft treatment" with Menon being praised for his linear narrative screenplay.

Menon subsequently remade the film in the Telugu language as Gharshana (2004) starring Venkatesh in Suriya's role.

The film also featured actress Asin and Salim Baig in prominent roles and went on to earn commercial and critical acclaim with reviewers citing that "film redeems itself due to the technical excellence and masterful craft of Gautham", drawing comparisons of Menon with noted film makers Mani Ratnam and Ram Gopal Varma.

His 2008 Tamil film, Vaaranam Aayiram won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.

Menon produces films through his film production company named Photon Kathaas.

In 2011, the producer of the film approached him to remake Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein with the producer's son Jackky Bhagnani in the lead role, but Menon was uninterested with the offer.

His production Thanga Meengal (2013) won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.