Dileesh Pothan

Dileesh Philip (born 19 February 1980), also known as Dileesh Pothan is an Indian film director, actor and producer, who works in Malayalam cinema. He made his directorial debut with the 2016 comedy drama film Maheshinte Prathikaaram, starring Fahadh Faasil. The film received the Best Feature Film in Malayalam Award at the 64th National Film Awards. Pothan also won the Best Director Award at the 64th Filmfare Awards South.

Pothan began his career as an associate director to the 2010 film 9 KK Road. He served as an assistant director under Aashiq Abu, assisting in five of Aashiq's films. He made his acting debut as a film director in one scene in Aashiq Abu's 2011 film Salt N' Pepper. His second directional was Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum (2017), which was also a critical and commercial hit. Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum won the Best Feature Film in Malayalam Award as well at the 65th National Film Awards. His third and latest film Joji, also starring Fahadh Faasil, released to highly positive reviews on the OTT platform of Amazon Prime Video in April 2021. Joji won the best International Film Award at the Swedish International Film Festival (SIFF 2021).