Jeethu Joseph is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He has also worked in a few Tamil and Bollywood films. Jeethu made his directional debut with the 2007 police procedural filmDetective and later went on to direct five successful films: the family dramaMummy & Me, the comedyMy Boss, the thriller Memories, the family-thriller Drishyam, the revenge-drama Oozham and the action-thriller Aadhi. Jeethu gained popularity after the release of Drishyam, which became the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever, it was the first Malayalam film to cross 50 crore mark at the box office. Jeethu made his Tamil debut with Papanasam and Hindi with The Body And Drishyam 2
Jeethu Joseph started as an assistant director to Jayaraj in the film Bheebhathsam. After that, he got a chance to direct a film starring Dileep but it did not materialize and he was back where he started. Meanwhile, Jeethu developed the one-line plot of Detective. But after failing to find any producers, his mother Leelamma Josesh offered to co-produce the film, which became his debut directorial. 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 filmMummy & Me 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. Jeethu's fourth movie Memories, a suspense thriller, was released in 2013 which did well in box office.
Post ''Drishyam''
Towards the end of 2013, the drama-thriller Drishyam starring Mohanlal was released, which was well received critically and commercially. It was the highest-grossing Malayalam film, until 2016, and the first Malayalam film to cross 50 crore mark at the box office. Drishyam was remade in Tamil by Jeethu with Kamal Haasan enacting Mohanlal's role. It was also remade to Telugu, Kannada and Hindi by other directors. Jeethu then directed Dileep-starrer Life of Josutty.
Personal life
Jeethu married Linta and they have two children. Linta is a costume designer in Malayalam cinema.
