Nelson

Nelson Dilipkumar (/nɛlsən ðɪliːpkumɑːr/ born 21 June 1984) is an Indian director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He started his career with a feature film in 2010 with Vettai Mannan, starring Silambarasan. However, it was shelved due to various reasons. He later directed Kolamaavu Kokila (2018), making his debut in the industry. He directed Doctor (2021) featuring Sivakarthikeyan, which emerged a commercial success during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was followed by Beast (2022), with Vijay in the lead role, which emerged as one of the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2022. He then worked on Jailer (2023), which became his most successful film; it became one of the highest-grossing Indian film, earning over ₹600 crore (US$72 million) worldwide, collaborating with Rajinikanth. He is one of the highest paid director in India.

Film career

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Nelson holds a degree in visual communication from New College, Chennai. He started his career as an assistant script-writer in Star Vijay.^[1] Nelson’s father died in November 2018.^[2]

Nelson started his work on what was originally intended to have been his directorial debut, Vettai Mannan, in 2010. The film would have starred Silambarasan, Jai, Hansika Motwani and Deeksha Seth; would have been produced by NIC Arts’s S. S. Chakravarthy; and would have featured music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. However, the film was shelved for unknown reasons halfway through production.^[3][4] There was an attempt to revive the project in 2017 with a new crew, such as Anirudh Ravichander replacing Yuvan Shankar Raja as the composer.^[5] However, the project failed to take off again.

Composer Anirudh Ravichander helped Nelson make his actual debut feature film as writer-director,^[6] the dark comedy Kolamaavu Kokila, starring Nayanthara in the lead role. The film, produced by Lyca Productions, released on 17 August 2018 and became a commercial success.^[7][8][9]