Born in Valapad in Thrissur district, Kerala to Jose and Lilly, Lal Jose did his schooling at NSS KPT School and NSS College, Ottapalam. He is married to Leena. The couple have two daughters, Irene and Catherine.[3] After completing his degree, he left for Chennai, with an aim of getting into movies. He got into the world of cinema by assisting noted director Kamal. He worked with Kamal in 16 films, from Pradheshika Varthakkal to Krishnagudiyil Oru Pranayakalathu. He worked as associate director to prominent filmmakers like Thampy Kannamthanam, Lohithadas, Harikumar, Vinayan, K. K. Haridas, and Nizar.[4]
In 2002 Lal Jose, teaming up with screenwriter Ranjan Pramod, who had earlier scripted Randaam Bhavam, came up with Meesa Madhavan, which was a milestone in his career along with that of Dileep. Meesa Madhavan was a hit and established Dileep in the industry.[8] But Lal Jose proved his critics wrong in the year 2005 with Chanthupottu, starring Dileep. The box-office success of Chanthupottu took Lal Jose's career to new heights.[9] In 2006, Lal Jose directed Achanurangatha Veedu, a low-budget film, which failed to bring audiences to the movie halls, though it won critical appreciation.[10]
In 2006, Jose's film Classmates was released without much publicity, with no big stars, but became the highest-grossing film in Malayalam, until its record was broken by Twenty:20 two years later.[11] In 2007, he did Arabikkatha, with Sreenivasan in a leading role. Arabikkatha was critically and commercially a big hit.[12][13] His next movie was Mulla, starring Dileep. In 2009, Lal Jose directed Neelathamara, written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair, which was a remake of the 30-year-old movie with the same name.[14] It was accepted well by the critics and the masses. He directed a story with Mammootty as lead in Kerala Cafe in 2010. He then directed the hit film Elsamma Enna Aankutty without multistars. In 2011, he became a judge on a reality show on Surya TV called Vivel Active Fair Big Break, where the winner would be the heroine in his next movie. [citation needed]
