Nelson Dilipkumar
Nelson at the audio launch forJailer
Born	(1984-06-21)June 21, 1984 (age 41) Vellore,Tamil Nadu, India
Alma mater	The New College, Chennai
Occupations	Film director Screenwriter
Years active	2010–present
Spouse	Monisha
Children	1

Nelson Dilipkumar (/nɛlsənðɪliːpkumɑːr/ born 21 June 1984) is an Indian director and screenwriter who predominantly works inTamil cinema. Known for directing crime and action films which incorporatedark humor, he is one of the highest-paid directors in India.

Nelson started his career in 2010 with the feature filmVettai Mannan. However, it was shelved due to various reasons. He later directedKolamaavu Kokila (2018), making his debut in the industry. He directedDoctor (2021), which emerged acommercial success during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was followed byBeast (2022), which emerged as one of thehighest-grossing Tamil film of 2022. He then worked onJailer (2023), which became his most successful film; it became one of thehighest-grossing Indian film, earning over₹600 crore (US$71 million) worldwide.

Nelson holds a degree in visual communication fromNew College,Chennai. He started his career as an assistant scriptwriter inStar Vijay.^[1] Nelson's father died in November 2018.^[2] He is a Christian and his full name is Nelson Dilipkumar. Married to Monisha Nelson and have a son.

Nelson started his work on what was originally intended to have been his directorial debut,Vettai Mannan, in 2010. The film would have starredSilambarasan,Jai,Hansika Motwani andDeeksha Seth; would have been produced by NIC Arts'sS. S. Chakravarthy; and would have featured music byYuvan 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 asAnirudh Ravichander replacing Yuvan Shankar Raja as the composer.^[5] However, the project failed to take off again.

Anirudh helped Nelson make his actual debut feature film as writer-director,^[6] the dark comedyKolamaavu Kokila, starringNayanthara in the lead role. The film, produced byLyca Productions, released on 17 August 2018 and became a commercial success.^[7][8][9]

His next film wasDoctor, starringSivakarthikeyan in the lead role oppositePriyanka Arul Mohan. The film became one of the biggest Tamil-language blockbusters among films that released theatrically after the pandemic-induced lockdowns.^[10][11]

In November 2020, Anirudh introduced Nelson to actorVijay,^[12][13] who was impressed with Nelson's script forBeast. The film, anaction comedy and Vijay's 65th film,^[14][15] also starringPooja Hegde,^[16] was released on 13 April 2022 as a pan-Indian film dubbed in the Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam languages.^[17][18] Despite getting mixed reviews from critics, the film became a box office success, collecting₹300 crore at the worldwide box office.^[19][20][21]Beast was screened at theRome International Film Festival, Veneto International Film Festival, Italy and Eastern Europe Film Festival.^[22][23][24]

Nelson's next film wasRajinikanth's 169 film, which was tentatively titled asThalaivar 169.^[25] On 17 June 2022, the title was announced to beJailer.^[26] Rajinikanth played the role of a jailer in the film.^[27] It was released on 10 August 2023 to generally positive reviews from both the critics and audience, alike. The performances of the cast (especially Rajinikanth's), direction, music, cinematography, editing, and action sequences were highly praised.^[28][29] Nelson was also praised byChief MinisterM. K. Stalin for his direction.^[30] It was deemed as a huge commercial comeback for both Rajinikanth and Nelson, and had a huge opening weekend, becoming thesecond-highest grossing Tamil film of all-time after2.0 (2018).

Owing to his films success, he confirmedKolamaavu Kokila,Doctor,Beast andJailer would have sequels.^[31]

Nelson's films containdark humor because the supporting characters in his films are often singled out for theireccentricity, relying on body language and dialogue delivery to produce humour. Nelson also tends to usedouble act comedy extensively, such as Bobi and Tony inKolamaavu Kokila; Mahaali and Kili inDoctor andBeast; and Jack and Jill inBeast. Visually, Nelson's filmography can be identified through steady camera shots, blocked shots and headspace, rarely opting for zoom shots.^[32][33] His films also feature slow table conversations between characters, with the camera focusing on the conversing character and alternating to the next conversing character.^{[citation needed]}

Nelson has citedC. V. Sridhar,Steven Spielberg, andQuentin Tarantino as his favorite directors.^{[citation needed]} Critics have also noted multiple reference ofBreaking Bad in his work.^[34] He has stated in interviews that although his stories may not be original ideas, he has the intention of presenting them in a new format, thus breaking clichés.^{[citation needed]}

• Note: he is credited in all films as Nelson.

Editor R. Nirmal,Anirudh Ravichander and actorYogi Babu have worked in all of his films.Redin Kingsley has worked in four of his films. Sivakarthikeyan has written lyrics for three movies and acted in one movie.

Films	R. Nirmal	Anirudh Ravichander	Yogi Babu	Sivakarthikeyan	Redin Kingsley[40]	D. R. K. Kiran	Sunil Reddy	Jani Master	VTV Ganesh	Shiva Aravind	Arun Alexander	Bjorn Surrao	G. Marimuthu	Shaji Chen
Kolamaavu Kokila (2018)	Y	Y	Y	Y as lyricist	Y						Y
Doctor (2021)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y cameo	Y cameo
Beast (2022)	Y	Y	Y	Y as lyricist	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y cameo		Y
Jailer (2023)	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y				Y
Jailer 2 (2026)	Y	Y	Y			Y

• Nelson Dilipkumar atIMDb
• Nelson Dilipkumar onTwitter

• Living people
• Tamil film directors
• 1984 births
• Indian film directors
• People from Vellore
• Film directors from Tamil Nadu

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