Nelson Dilipkumar

Nelson Dilipkumar's first feature never reached the screen. Vettai Mannan, with Silambarasan in the lead, was started in 2010 and abandoned midway, and a 2017 attempt to revive it came to nothing as well. Sometimes credited simply as Nelson, the Tamil director and screenwriter was born in Vellore on 21 June 1984, studied visual communication at New College, Chennai, and worked as an assistant scriptwriter at Star Vijay. His films tend to mix crime and action with dark humour, a pattern set by his actual debut, Kolamaavu Kokila (2018). That dark comedy, led by Nayanthara and produced by Lyca Productions, did well commercially. Doctor (2021), with Sivakarthikeyan, came next and became a major Tamil success among the films that opened in theatres after the pandemic lockdowns. Beast (2022), an action comedy starring Vijay and Pooja Hegde, was released in several languages. The reviews were negative; the box-office numbers were strong. Then came Jailer (2023) with Rajinikanth, the most successful film of his career, earning over ₹600 crore worldwide. He wrote and directed the sequel, Jailer 2, which was released in 2026.