Siddique No More: A Look At His Transition from Mimicry Artiste To Veteran Filmmaker

Siddique Ismail also known as Siddique was born to Haji Ismail Ravuthar and Zainaba in Kochi on August 1, 1954. He was the second of the eight children of the couple. After completing school education from Kochi, Siddique earned a bachelor's degree from  St.Paul's College Kalamassery, Kochi.

Siddique started his career as a mimicry artist and member of Cochin Kalabhavan in 1980 and had attended several stage shows and events during his earlier career life. He also made a great contribution to the elevation of mimicry as an art form in Kerala. Siddique is an inspiration to many young-minded people, who always encourages them to fulfill their dreams by telling his successful journey in the Cinema.

He worked as an assistant director to filmmaker Faazil for quite some time. After then, Siddique made his directorial debut in 1999 with 'Friends'. The film which is directed by  Siddique and stars Jayaram, Mukesh, Sreenivasan, and Meena in significant roles. Produced by actor Lal and Ousepachan Vaalakuzhy, it is one of the classic friendship-romantic movies ever made in Malayalam cinema. Released in theaters, the film made a great impact on the box-office collection and later it was remade in Tamil version which featured iconic actors Vijay and Suriya in lead roles.

There is no doubt his movies always make people laugh loud and attract them to watch again. He used several modern comedy elements in his story plot to amuse audiences in different ways. We can notice this idea while watching his movies on the big screen. He is the only person, who taught us comedy is omnipresent and omnipotent in story telling.

Apart from directing movies, Siddique also wrote screenplay and dialogues for several movies in Malayalam. He also worked with many popular filmmakers in the industry like Faasil and Sathyan Anthikkad. Siddique also played supporting and cameo roles in the movies like Masterpiece,Gulumaal: The Escape, Manathe Kottaram and Nokkethadhoorathu Kannum Nattu.

He is popular for his collaboration with actor Lal for several super hit movies in Malayalam.The comedy drama 'Ramji Rao Speaking' (1989) which marked the directorial debut of duo 'Siddique-Lal'. It is one of the box-office hit comedy drama's ever made in Malayalam cinema, is still favourite to everyone. Their another box-office hit successes list include Harihar Nagar, Mannar Mathai Speaking, Makkal Mahatmyam, Kabooliwala, Godfather, and Vietnam Colony.

After breaking several box-office collections actor Dileep starrer 'Bodygurad', remade in Hindi with the same title in 2011. Starring Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles and it marked Siddique's directorial debut in Hindi Cinema. According to reports, the film was released in theaters and earned Rs 20 crore on its opening day collection. It is one of the highest-grossing movies ever made in Hindi, which made a great impact in Actor Salman Khan's acting life.

He had directed many box-office hit movies in Malayalam and worked with several big stars in the industry like Mammootty, Mohanlal, Jayaram, and Dileep, among others. Some of his box-office hit movies lists include Bhaskar the Rascal,  Big Brother,  Bodyguard, Chronic Bachelor, Hitler, Friends, Vietnam Colony, In Harihar Nagar, and Ramji Rao Speaking.