J. Mahendran
J. Alexander( 25 July 1939 – 2 April 2019), known professionally as Mahendran, was an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work in the Tamil film industry.
Mahendran is regarded as one of the greatest film makers of Tamil cinema and has influenced several filmmakers of the generations followed.
Mahendran entered the film industry as a screenwriter, writing scripts for nearly 26 films.
He made an immediate impact with his first directional venture" Mullum Malarum"( 1978).
Mahendran's next film" Uthiripookkal", based on a short story written by Pudumaipithan, firmly established him as an important filmmaker in Tamil cinema.
His" Nenjathai Killathe" won three National Film Awards including the award for the best regional film.
He has also acted in films during the latter part of his film career, including" Kamaraj"( 2004)," Theri"( 2016)," Nimir"( 2018) and" Petta"( 2019).
Before his death, he was the head of the direction department of BOFTA Film Institute in Chennai.
Robert Florey
Robert Florey( 14 September 1900 – 16 May 1979) was a French- American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor.
Born as Robert Fuchs in Paris, he became an orphan at an early age and was then raised in Switzerland.
In 1920 he worked at first as a film journalist, then as an assistant and extra in featurettes from Louis Feuillade.
Florey moved to the United States in 1921.
As a director, Florey's most productive decades were the 1930s and 1940s, working on relatively low- budget fillers for Paramount and Warner Brothers.
His reputation is balanced between his avant- garde expressionist style, most evident in his early career, and his work as a fast, reliable studio- system director called on to finish troubled projects, such as 1939's" Hotel Imperial".
He directed more than 50 movies.
His most popular film is likely the first Marx Brothers feature" The Cocoanuts" of 1929, and his 1932 foray into Universal- style horror," Murders in the Rue Morgue" is regarded by horror fans as highly reflective of German expressionism.
In 2006, as his 1937 film" Daughter of Shanghai" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, Florey was called" widely acclaimed as the best director working in major studio B-films".
Ben Palmer
Ben Palmer is a British film and television director who is known for being the director of" Bo' Selecta" and" The Inbetweeners".
Pyari Behna
Pyari Behna is a 1985 Hindi- language Indian drama film directed by Bapu, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Padmini Kolhapure, Vinod Mehra, Tanvi Azmi and Shakti Kapoor.
The film is a remake of the 1978 Tamil film" Mullum Malarum".
Mullum Malarum
Mullum Malarum(" The Thorn and the Flower"[ or]" Even a Thorn Will Bloom") is a 1978 Indian Tamil- language drama film written and directed by J. Mahendran.
Produced by Venu Chettiar and V. Mohan, the film stars Rajinikanth, Sarath Babu, Fatafat Jayalaxmi and Shoba.
It marks Mahendran's directorial debut and is partly based on Uma Chandran's novel of the same name, which was serialised in the Tamil magazine" Kalki" in 1966.
" Mullum Malarum" tells the story of Kali( Rajinikanth), a winch operator of a cable trolley who dotes on his sister Valli( Shoba) since they were orphaned, and clashes with his boss Kumaran( Sarath Babu).
Mahendran read only part of the novel, and developed the screenplay as he wanted, making a visually- focused film without formulaic Tamil cinema conventions he disliked such as melodrama, overacting, excessive dialogue and duets.
Since Mahendran had no previous directing experience, cinematographer Balu Mahendra, who was already an established director, assisted him with the screenplay, dialogue, camera angles, casting and editing.
Principal photography lasted for about 30 days, taking place primarily in Sringeri, Karnataka, though some scenes were also filmed in Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
The film was edited by D. Vasu, and the soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.
" Mullum Malarum" was released on 15 August 1978.
Although it opened to tepid box- office earnings, positive reviews from critics and favourable word of mouth in later weeks helped make it a success with a theatrical run of over 100 days.
The film received praise primarily for Rajinikanth's performance, Balu Mahendra's cinematography, Ilaiyaraaja's music, Mahendran's writing and establishing Tamil cinema as a" visual medium".
It won the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil, the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film and Rajinikanth won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for his performance.
" Mullum Malarum" became a breakthrough for Rajinikanth as an actor and a milestone of Tamil cinema for focusing prominently on visuals and realism without the formulaic Tamil cinema conventions that Mahendran disliked.
He continued following this style in all his later films.
The film's success inspired a Malayalam remake titled" Venalil Oru Mazha" in 1979, and a Hindi version titled" Pyari Behna" in 1985.
Drew Esocoff
Drew Esocoff( born c. 1957) is an American television sports director, who as of 2006 has been the director of NBC Sunday Night Football.
Abhishek Saxena
Abhishek Saxena is an Indian Bollywood and Punjabi film director who directed the movie Phullu.
The Phullu movie was released in theaters on 16 June 2017, in which film Sharib Hashmi is the lead role.
Apart from these, he has also directed Patiala Dreamz, this is a Punjabi film.
This film was screened in cinemas in 2014.
Venalil Oru Mazha
Venalil Oru Mazha is a 1979 Indian Malayalam- language film, directed by Sreekumaran Thampi and produced by S. Kumar.
The film stars Madhu, Jayan, Sukumari and Srividya in the lead roles.
The film has musical score by M. S. Viswanathan.
The film was a remake of the Tamil film" Mullum Malarum".
Ship Cafe
Ship Cafe is a 1935 American musical film directed by Robert Florey.
G. Marthandan
G. Marthandan is an Indian film director who works in Malayalam cinema.

Question: Which film has the director who died first, Mullum Malarum or Ship Cafe?
Answer: Ship Cafe