Vineeth Sreenivasan - Malayalam Cinema's Farhan Akhtar
It all started on October 1st 1984 in North Kerala where screenwriter - actor - director Sreenivasan and his wife, Vimala were staying. Sreenivasan became a proud father as Vimala delivered a son who would soon become the multifaceted talent that Mollywood had gifted us. His name is Vineeth Sreenivasan.
It was in 2002 when Priyadarshan was on a lookout for a young vocalist and Vineeth Sreenivasan was recommended as a singer. He made his debut at the age of 18. He studied at KCG College of Engineering in Chennai for 4 years where he met his future wife Divya.
Post his graduation, He met a youngster named Shaan Rahman and their friendship sparked with an album Coffee @ MG Road. He later made his entry as an actor with Cycle and went on to give spectacular performances in the films going forward.
But it was in 2010, that Vineeth proved that he could do more than singing and acting. He launched himself as a director with Malarvadi Arts Club where he brought in a new team of debutants such as Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese.etc This film became the forerunner of the New Age Movement that kickstarted with Traffic.
If Malarvadi Arts Club was his 1st stepping stone into success, then his sophomore directorial Thattatin Maraythu was credited with telling a inter-religious love story with dosages of comedy. One such dialogue "Olu aa thattam ittu kazhinjaal Ente Saare, Pinne Chuttonum Kaanam Patulla" made us go Oh My Goodness.
His next Directorial Thira was his maiden attempt at making a thriller and it was the first Malayalam film to introduce a casting director. This film introduced his younger brother Dhyan Sreenivasan who later became famous as interview star. The thriller did Ok in the Box Office.
He later went on to handle the screenplay for Oru Vadakkan Selfie which was directed by G. Prajith and this film introduced former child actress Manjima Mohan who would later become famous in Tamil and Telugu Cinema. The comedy thriller focused on social Media Love and the disadvantages associated with it.
His next project Jacobinte Swargarajyam was set in Dubai and it brought out a sense of family togetherness. Based on real events that happened, This film focused on a son who decides to save his dad from a debt that he was trapped in. Thiruvavaniravu - the onam song literally celebrated Onam as a festive occasion which will forever be remembered.
He then moved on to his 5th directorial "Hridayam" which sparked the new age reminiscence of the golden trio from the 80s. This film was a career break for Pranav Mohanlal as an actor and Hesham Abdul Wahab as a music composer. It released at the time when Covid was almost close to dying out. He brought back the old trend of cassettes and Walkman. The songs and bgm were the biggest highlight along with the performances. This film was credited with reviving a long dead production house Merryland Cinemas which was founded by P. Subramanian and is currently headed by his grandson Vishak.
Post the success of Hridayam, Vineeth was back in the director's chair for Varshangalluku Shesham which was a period drama focusing on the 70s and 80s Madras Film Industry. It was credited with introducing Amrit Ramnath as a music Composer. This film revived Nivin Pauly's fortunes as he went through a brief slump in his career beside featuring Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Dhyan Sreenivasan. This film is termed as a desi tribute to Cinema Paradiso.
There was also a musical side which he explored during the lockdown as he made his debut as a composer with Uyarnu Parannu which introduced his wife as a playback singer. Now his next directorial Karam which is written by Noble Babu Thomas who also plays the lead role is a breakaway from his feel good style as it explores a violent and gritty side that Vineeth Sreenivasan never displayed in the screen.
Vineeth Etta, I am a big fan of your work and I can't wait to see what magic you have done.
