V. Z. Durai

V. Z. Durai’s former name was Peer Moideen. Durai was his nickname, given to him by his grandmother and it later stuck as everyone continued calling him that. He is an Indian Director. He works in the Tamil Cinema. He is one of the few Muslim Directors in the Industry. The director, Durai, had a long struggle period in the Tamil Cinema. He has admitted to multiple sources and also in various talks that it took him a long time to get noticed in the Industry. He has been rejected by over five Producers consecutively, but he did not let this break his belief in himself and his work. He continued to look for a Producer who will be interested in the script and will see what he sees in it.

Although a conventional way to get into the Industry, Durai never went to Film School. He has revealed that he has a craze for movies and since his childhood used to watch one flick per day. This habit continues even now as this helps him study various aspects of cinema. He also has a passion for reading and loves reading novels of all sorts of genres. S. S. Chakravarthy was Durai’s knight in shining armour. After numerous rejections, S. S. Chakravarthy agreed to make a film with Durai and Ajith Kumar.

The flick was called ‘Mugavaree’. Durai has revealed that Chakravarthy had always maintained a close link till post-production and helped Durai overcome many hurdles. He is also the one who roped in actress, Jyothika Saravanan Jyothika is a highly famous Indian cinema artist. >> Read More... in the movie. Prior to the theatrical release, Ajith gifted Durai a new car to show his gratitude to him for directing such a fine film. After a great amount of struggle, Durai finally made his debut as a Director in the year 2000. After the roaring success of the flick, the director, Durai, and the producer, Chakravarthy signed another venture to continue their collaboration.

Durai is deep friends with him in real life too and considers him a big part of his success. Unlike other Directors, Durai doesn’t prefer doing one film every year. He puts in a lot of work in the research of the flick and hence, keeps at least a gap of two to three years between his films. He also has stated that he doesn’t like fictional stories too much. He prefers choosing storylines out of real life situations as they are the most relatable. The second collaboration of the director and producer duo, Kadhal Sadugudu released in the year 2003. Following this, Durai made films like Thothi Jaya in the year 2005, ‘Nepali’ in the year 2008, and finally “6” in the year 2013.