Majith

Abdul Majith is an Indian movie director and writer whose works till date have predominantly been in the Tamil cinema. He was born on 20th February 1974 in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. There have many controversies surrounding him in a career spanning nearly two decades and five movies. His debut movie as a director was “Thamizhan” (2002), starring ‘Tamil Thalapathy’ Vijay and Miss World 2000 Priyanka Chopra Born on 18 July 1982, Priyanka Chopra is an establ >> Read More... . He wrote the story and the dialogues for the movie as well. It was also Priyanka Chopra’s debut movie. The movie producer, G. Venkateswaran, had initially approached Thirupathisamy (director of “ Ganesh Ganesh is an Indian actor and a producer who predo >> Read More... ” (1998), “ Azad Click to look into! >> Read More... ” (2000) and “Narsimha” (2002)) to direct Thamizhan. However, before the shooting for the movie started, Thirupathisamy passed away after a tragic accident. It was then that Venkateswaran decided to give Majith a shot at directing. The outcome was fruitful since the movie was a hit and was received affectionately by the audience. Majith was praised for his direction and dialogue writing.

Soon in May 2005, he undertook another movie “Thunichal” with Vijay as the lead actor but the movie was not released until 2010 due to financial problems. However, prior to its release, Vijay protested against it because it was going to be put up in theatres without taking his views into account. He was worried that the movie had not been carved to perfection and might stain the strong reputation he had built over the past years. He retracted his arguments later and allowed the movie to screen in theatres. However, what he had feared, happened since Thunichal turned out to be a huge flop and Vijay’s acting was harshly reprimanded. In his next film “Kee Mu” (2008), Majith also appeared as an actor in the supporting role of Kasi. The movie as well as Majith's acting received a lot of negative reviews, mainly for making a derived and different version of a mainstream storyline. Majith’s name was not seen in the credits of any movie for the next six years until he came up with “Paisa” (2016).

It revolved around a rag picker who stumbles upon a stash of money and how things start to go bad since then. The movie was an overall success and helped Majith in reviving his fame. His latest project “Torch Light” (2018) was appreciated by the viewers for its bold action in showcasing the lives and the hardships of prostitutes in the 80s and the 90s. For the purpose of educating their children and running their families, they had to sometimes solicit men for a meagre amount of Rs. 10, use the cigarette butts for lipsticks and even apply crushed poisonous seeds to brush their eyelashes, among several other miseries. Majith had researched for nearly three months on the subject, visiting red light districts and interviewing sex workers, before he decided to shoot the film. However, the film faced resistance from the censor board in Chennai and Majith’s plea was rejected. Majith ultimately moved the case to Mumbai, where it was finally cleared by the censor board in July 2018. The movie hit the theatres on 7th September, 2018.