Gautham Menon was a student of mechanical engineering at Mookambigai College of Engineering and graduated in the batch of 1993, and his time there inspired him to make his lead characters of Minnale and Vaaranam Aayiram, students of the same course. He claims to have been inspired by films such as Dead Poet's Society and Nayagan and expressed his desire to his parents to change career path and become a filmmaker and consequently wrote his first film at his college hostel. His mother insisted he became an ad film maker by shooting various commercials and took an apprenticeship under filmmaker Rajiv Menon. He went on to work as an assistant director for Minsaara Kanavu in 1997, in which he also appeared in a cameo role.
Career
Major Profession
Director
Other Professions
Screenplay Writer, Story Writer, Actor, Singer, Producer
Vijay Award for Favourite Director for Vaaranam Aayiram (2008) National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for Vaaranam Aayiram (2008) and Thanga Meengal (2013) Filmfare Award for Best Film � Tamil forThanga Meengal (2013) Vijay Award for Best Film for Thanga Meengal (2013) Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer for Ye Maaya Chesave (2010)
Rotary Club of Chennai � Honoured for Creative Excellence (2010) Gautham resides in Taramani, Chennai. He also has an apartment in Film nagar - Hyderabad. Although born in Kerala he grew up in Tiruchirappalli
