Priyadarshan started his career drawing inspiration from Mickey Mouse, Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin, is now the most sought after director in Mumbai. Viraasat and Saat Rang ke Sapne, which he directed, were run away hits.

He can cut the budget of a Hindi movie by half just on the strength of his pace of work. His Rs 3.5 crore magnum opus Kalapani was shot in 72 days. But films were never his first choice he used to play a lot of cricket. An injury to his left eye where a ball hit him put paid to his hopes of a career in cricket. Subsequently he landed a job with All India Radio.

It was actor Mohanlal, his college friend, who urged him to get into movies since he wrote short stories. Initially he wrote scripts for Malayalam films. In 1984 he directed his first film, Poochaikyu Oru Mookkuthee in Malayalam. After this came a series of hits like Thalavattam, Vandanam, Chitram, Kilukkam, Thenmavin Kombathu (Saat Rang ke Sapne is a re-make of this film) and Chandralekha. In between he found time to direct Hindi (Gardish and Muskurahat), Tamil (Gopura Vaasililae) and Telugu movies(Nirnayam).

He met his wife, actress Lizzy, on the sets of his second film. They have done 12 movies together, though she has quit acting now. The couple have two children.