Sandeep Malani (born 19 November 1971) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is the managing director of the production company 'Malani Talkies'.

Early years

Sandeep Malani was born in 1971 to a Roman Catholic family in Mumbai and was raised in Mangalore. Malani himself did his early schooling at the Milagres School in Mangalore. and his BBM at SDM College. Later he did Journalism course at Sandesha, Mangalore. Has been trained Japanese and speaks most of the Indian languages. His mother tongue is Konkani. Malani was a choreographer and a dancer. He organised various events in Mangalore during 1992 to 1996 - all successful under the name 'Malani Presents - Something Special' Malani was a film journalist for The Canara Times,Mangalore and later for a few years in The Times of India,Bangalore. He also was a freelancer film critic for various websites and magazines.

Malani co-directed the Kannada film, Miss California, which was the debut film of actor Diganth.

He has variously served as a TV host for local Mangalorean channels, events organiser, costume designer and directed a few music videos for local channels involving dancers and stage artistes of Mangalore. Malani has acted in a few theatre plays as well.

Malani co-directed the Kannada version of the Tamil film One Two Three starring Prabhu Deva, Raju Sundaram, Prasad and Jyothika. The film was directed by K Subaash.

Sandeep Malani directed the Bollywood Film, 'Woh 5 Din' a suspense thriller shot in Barielly and Nainital with newcomers. Later he directed Kalpana Pandit, Akash Hora and Anant Nag in 'Janleva 555'.

As a Screenwriter, Malani has assisted K Subaash in the writing of Rohit Shetty's film Chennai Express and also wrote the script of 'Hello India' starring Akshay Kumar.

Malani has also been a part of the direction team in Onir's I Am anthology film, working on the "I Am Abhimanyu" and "I Am Omar" segments.

He has directed a variety of short films, some of them covering controversial issues such as AIDS ("Jo Jo Laali – a heart wrenching lullaby") and homosexuality ("Shaayad"). His other short film was made in three languages: "Hum Tum Aur Loan" (Hindi), "Yella Ok, Loan Yaake" (Kannada) and "A Loanly Life" (English).

Filmography (as director)

Feature films

YearFilmLanguageOther notes
19951995 A Dance StoryEnglishDirector and Choreographer
2006SMS 6260Kannada
2011Woh 5 DinHindi
2012Janleva 555Hindi
2014Sulige SikkidaagaKannada
2017Yeh CineMaa HaiHindi

Short films

YearFilmLanguageOther notes
2010"Albatross – a flying tale"EnglishDirector
2010"Moments"HindiDirector
2010"Jo Jo Laali – a heart wrenching lullaby"KannadaDirector
2010"Hum Tum Aur Loan"HindiDirector
2010"Shaayad"EnglishDirector
2012"Jojo Darling"HindiDirector

Documentaries

YearFilmLanguageOther notes
2005Fun With LanguageJapaneseDirector
2010LMAI – The EvolutionEnglishDirector
2014Roop Ki Rani SrideviHindi MusicalDirector
2014YashRaj Heroines De JayengeHindi MusicalDirector
2018Sridevi Lives ForeverEnglishDirector

Selected filmography (as actor)

  • Note: all films are in Kannada, unless otherwise noted.
YearFilmRoleOther notes
1993Bangar PatlerTulu films
1995September (8)
1997BogsanheHotel Owner's sonKonkani film
1999Aryabhata
Z
2000IndradhanushGuest in a song
Swalpa Adjust Madkolli
2002123BossTamil film Also Assistant Director
Manasella NeeneVenu's FriendAlso Assistant Director
2005JootataHotel Owner
2006PadriKonkani film; Guest in a song
Miss CaliforniaTemple PriestAlso Co-director
SMS 6260Guest College Lecturer / God (voice)Also Director
2007MasalaScientistKonkani film
TirupathiJudge
JulieBoss
C/o FootpathArtist
2009KazarKonkani film
2015DhandDoctorTulu film
2017MAA:yeh cine-maa haiHindi film
2018Iruvudellava Bittu
DarpanaDoctor Eeshwar
Abhaya HasthaDancer
Huttadha SuthaGangster
MookavismithaHiriyanna
2023The Vacant HouseMaheshKannada-Konkani bilingual film
2024Marigold

External links