Jeeva (director)

Jeeva (director) Biography

Jeeva is a popular cinematographer and film director in Tamil cinema. He started his career as a cinematographer with Malayalam cult classic – Abhimanyu directed by Priyadarshan. Later he got associated with many projects of Priyardarshan belonging to Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi as well as many Tamil movies, belonging to other directors like N. Linguswamy, S. J. Surya, Shankar and John Mahendran. As a cinematographer, apart from Abhimanyu, his noted Tamil works include – Kushi, Aasai, Kathalan, Vaali, Gentleman, Run, Sachien,  Snegithiye and Indian. As a film director, he debut with Tamil movie - 12B in 2001, followed by Hindi remake of Run, Dhaam Dhoom, Ullam Ketkumae and Unnale Unnale. He passed away in 2007 in Russia at a comparatively young age of 43, when he was at his career peaks.

He was born on September 21, 1963. He entered film industry in the early 1990’s and got the biggest break in the form of Mohanlal starrer Abhimanyu in 1991. Set in the background of Mumbai underworld, the movie went on to become one of the major hits of the year and even got cult classic status. This magic break was given to him by director Priyardarshan, who was mostly known for light and comedy movies till then. The successful duo together worked later in movies like Chandralekha, Snegithiye, Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar and cult comedy of Bollywood, Hera Pheri.

 
He made his Tamil debut through Gentleman in 1993, one of the major hits of the year. Indian, Vaali, Sandakozhi and Khushi are his major hits in Tamil. Ace cinematographer, P. C. Sreeram was his mentor. Jeeva was married to Anneesha and converted to Islam after marriage. Tamil director Vasanth was his brother-in-law.

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Updated: June 07, 2014