Background
He was born in a Malayali family in Delhi.
He was born in a Malayali family in Delhi.
He wrote and directed 2014 Bollywood film Hasee Toh Phasee which emerged as both commercial and critical success. He went to Saint Columba"s School, Delhi. He pursued Economics honours from the Delhi College of Arts and Commerce but left it after he got accepted into direction course at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).
He moved to Mumbai in 2000 and joined Mahesh Mathai"s ad company, Highlight Films.
He started assisting Prasoon Pandey. In 2002 he founded his own ad company, Nomad Films, but after struggling with it, he joined Footcandles.
There he worked on campaigns like Reliance, Vodafone, Airtel and the Times Of India"s Aman Ki Asha, which got him good recognition. Vinil Mathew was impressed with Santosh Sivan"s work and worked for him.
He also worked with filmmaker, Bharath Bala.
He made over 250 ad campaigns in his advertising career. He worked with Karan Johar on a coffee-ad campaign for many years. Film director career
He turned into a Bollywood film director and writer with 2014 Bollwood film, Hasee Toh Phasee.