JEETHU JOSEPH

JEETHU JOSEPH – Film Director

Jeethu Joseph (born 10 November 1972) to former Muvattupuzha Member of the Legislative Assembly V. V. Joseph and Leelamma. His childhood was spent in Mutholapuram in Elanji panchayat, 10 kilometres from Piravom. Jeethu wanted to attend Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) although his father wanted him to become an engineer. He later graduated in economics from Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha.

Jeethu Joseph worked as Assistant Director with Jayaraj (Bheebhatsam). After Bheebhatsam, chance came in the form of a Dileep-starrer for Jeethu. At the end of a year-and-a-half of work, it didn't "pan out" and he was back where he started. 

Jeethu had, in the meanwhile, developed the one-line plot of Detective, which went on to be his debut directorial venture. After failing to find any producers, his mother Leelamma Josesh offered to co-produce the film. Jeethu found a co-producer in a US-based friend. He met Suresh Gopi and signed him on. A month into the project, a producer evinced interest and took on the production. Detective was released in 2007. The film fared well at the box-office. 

His next film was Kunchako Boban starred Mummy & Me, which 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.This film was criticised for being a copy of the Hollywood film 'Proposal'. Jeethu's fourth movie Memories, a suspense thriller, was released in 2013 which did perfectly well in box office. 

Later in 2013, drama-thriller Drishyam starring Mohanlal was released to huge box-office success. Jeethu later said, "I knew it was a good film and was confident about it. But did I expect this kind of an overwhelming response? Never." Jeethu earlier had Mammootty in mind for Drishyam but as the actor found it difficult to give dates, decided on Mohanlal.'Drishyam' also was accused of being a copy of the Japanese film,"Suspect X". "Drishyam is an elegantly crafted piece of film which Mohanlal and Jeethu Joseph can proudly hold close to their hearts. Mohanlal owes this film to Jeethu Joseph, completely. It seems Joseph had saved his best for the script. It's a case of adept story-telling and playing to the gallery. Slightest doubts come from the characters themselves and he lets them answer as though each answer was his token of respect for the viewers," The Times of India wrote in their review of Drishyam. 

Drishyam is set to be remade in Tamil by Jeethu with Kamal Haasan enacting Mohanlal's role. It is set to be made in Telugu with Venkatesh playing the lead role while talks are on for the Kannada version. 

They were some allegations that Drishyam was reportedly inspired by Japanese author Keigo Higashino's book The Devotion of Suspect X, the rights of which Ekta Kapoor has acquired. Some industry people had reportedly asked Ekta Kapoor's creative team to watch Drishyam, pointing out that some elements are similar to the Japanese author's book. There was another report that Drishyam was based on Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. Jeethu Joseph refuted reports that his script drew inspiration from any Japanese or Korean authors' books. "The script is original, a work of three-six months," he said. 

Jeethu Joseph has three back-to-back projects lined up in the coming months. First movie is a Dileep-starrer set to go on floors December 2014. Jeethu, who joins hands with Dileep once again after the success of My Boss, says the film titled Life of Josutty will have a tinge of fantasy as its USP. The script of the film is written by Rajesh Varma. Anil Johnson, who worked with Jeethu in Drishyam will once again compose the music of the new film. A New Zealand-based production house is producing the film. The other two films will have Prithviraj and Kavya Madhavan respectively in the lead roles, says Jeethu. And for both the movies, Jeethu will once again write the script. Central Pictures, Kottayam, will produce the Prithviraj-starrer. Jeethu is also writing the script for his friend Anzar Khan's début movie. The story idea of the film has been formulated by Anzar, who has been in the industry as an associate director.