John Mahendran

Biography:

John Mahendran is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his contributions to Tamil and Telugu cinema. He is the son of the renowned Tamil filmmaker Mahendran.

John began his directing career with two relatively modest Telugu films: “Preminchedi Endukamma” and “Neetho.” He later ventured into Tamil cinema, remaking “Neetho” as “Sachein” (2005), starring Vijay, Genelia D’Souza, and Bipasha Basu. In “Sachein,” he successfully adapted the story for Tamil audiences. Following this, he worked on the independent Tamil film “Aanivaer” (2006), which centered around a doctor entangled in the Sri Lankan civil war. The film received positive reviews and had a limited release, particularly in regions with a Tamil diaspora.

In the early 2010s, John Mahendran expanded his role to include scriptwriting. He played a pivotal role in reworking the script for “Settai” (2013), a Tamil film adapted from the Hindi hit “Delhi Belly.” He also contributed to writing dialogues for “Ambikapathy,” the Tamil dubbed version of “Raanjhanaa” (2013), starring Dhanush and Sonam Kapoor. John’s talents extended to screenwriting for films like “Kaashmora” (2016) and “Motta Siva Ketta Siva” (2017). Concurrently, he served as a teacher for screenplay and dialogue writing at the Bofta Film Institute in Chennai. Currently, he is involved in writing for the Tamil movie “Visithiran,” an official remake of the Malayalam film “Joseph,” directed by M. Padmakumar.