M.Night Shyamalan- Man Behind 'the Sixth Sense'

Pondicherry born Pennsylvania brought up Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan aka M.Night Shyamalan has remarkably sustained his name among the most renowned directors of Hollywood. He became the debutant director in 1992 for a close-knit produced and selectively released drama called Praying with anger. Manoj was still a student at New York University at his debutant movie. His passion for filming was dream put into action from the early stages of his life.

Make-belief movies became his favorite genre throughout his journey as a Director. Though he was at major considered skeptical over his career, he proved otherwise by creating significantly expected films till 2019. At the age of 48, M.Night Shyamalan has his ways of keeping his audience wondering and occupied throughout the movie.

His keen interest on delivery of education in the states even led him to publish a book I Got Schooled: The Unlikely Story of How a Moonlighting Movie Maker Learned the Five Keys to Closing America's Education Gap along with a doctoral student James Richardson. James worked on the major research material related to the book.

The Sixth Sense-M.Night’s Quantum leap

1999 was a memorable year for M.Night. As he rose to international fame with his The Sixth Sense movie. His movie making talent hit top notch post this movie with compliments flowing in from whole industry all over the world. He was even nominated for the Academy Award Best Director (Oscar nominee) following year for The Sixth Sense. That year Academy Award ceremony witnessed 6 total Oscar nominations for this movie.

His praise-worthy and acclaimed place in Hollywood thus became more predominant. It is now been 20 years since the initial release and victory of The Sixth Sense movie. Yet any upcoming M.Night’s movies are still embracing the expectation created by The Sixth sense, which has been both head-long burden and boon for the director.

Series of his movies:

1.Praying with anger(1992)

-$7.5L budget
- IMDB rating: 5/10

2.Wide awake(1998)
-$305,704 net grossing against $6 million budget
- IMDB rating: 6/10

3.The Sixth sense(1999)
-$672.8 million net grossing against $40 million budget
- IMDB rating: 8.1/10

4.Unbreakable(2000)
-$248.1 million net grossing against $75 million budget
- IMDB rating: 7.3/ 10

5.Signs(2002)
-$408.2 million net grossing against $72 million budget
- IMDB rating: 6.7/10

6.The Village(2004)
-$256.7 million net grossing against $60 million budget
- IMDB rating: 6.5/10

7.Lady in the water(2006)
-$72 million net grossing against $70 million budget
- IMDB rating: 5.6/10

8.The Happening(2008)
-$163.4 million net grossing against $48 million budget
- IMDB rating: 5/10

9.The Last Airbender(2010)
-$319.7 million net grossing against $150 million budget
- IMDB rating: 4.1/10

10.After Earth(2013)
-$243 million net grossing against $130 million +$100 million marketing budget
- IMDB rating: 4.8/10

11.The Visit(2015)
-$98.5 million net grossing against $5 million budget
- IMDB rating: 6.2/10

12.Split(2016)
-$278.5 million net grossing against $9 million budget
- IMDB rating: 7.3/10

13.Glass(2019)
-$40.59 million local net grossing alone against $20 million budget
- IMDB rating: 6.8/10

Among his list of movies few that hit the box office and gained positive response from the audience were Signs, The Village, The Visit and Split.

Handling criticisms

M.Night Shyamalan’s movies were more prone to attract critic’s eyes. Having his roots deeply linked to his land of origin, M.Night held emotional connects to all the criticisms thrown at him. In spite of those reflex reactions he used to deliver strong responses to extricate him from the gloom. For each movie that did not receive viewer’s applause and net grossing, M.Night Shyamalan handled them with utmost individual progress.

Apart from his directorial feature, he has also been a screenplay writer and produced several movies and TV shows. His ideology might have not touched the audience soul but determination for his works really did. Few of his films have failed to feel the light of success but his confidence and firm belief in pursuing what he loved never saw an end.