A feature film is a film that runs for 40 minutes or longer, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, American Film Institute, and British Film Institute, though the Screen Actors Guild states that it is 80 minutes or longer.

The majority of feature films are between 90 and 210 minutes long. The Story of the Kelly Gang was the first feature film based on length, and was released in 1906. The first feature-length adaptation was Les Misérables which was released in 1909.

Feature films for children are usually between 60 and 120 minutes. Other early feature films include a version of Oliver Twist (1912), Richard III (1912) and From the Manger to the Cross (1912).

Many feature films tend to be adaptations of literary works. Notable feature length adaptations include The Godfather, Gone With the Wind, Dracula, Forrest Gump and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Film Institute, and the British Film Institute all define a feature as a film with a running time of 40 minutes or longer. The Centre National de la Cinématographie in France defines it as a 35 mm film longer than 1,600 metres, which is exactly 58 minutes and 29 seconds for sound films, and the Screen Actors Guild gives a minimum running time of at least 80 minutes. Today, a feature film is usually between 80 and 210 minutes^{[citation needed]}; a children's film is usually between 60 and 120 minutes^{[citation needed]}. An anthology film is a fixed sequence of short subjects with a common theme, combined into a feature film.

Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director and producer, who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He has also directed a few films in Hindi and Telugu languages which are remakes of his own Tamil films. Many of his films have been critically acclaimed, most notably his semi-autobiographical Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), romantic classic Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010), his action-thrillers Kaakha Kaakha (2003) and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006). Vaaranam Aayiram won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.

Gautham was born to a Malayali father and Tamil mother on 25 February 1973 in Ottapalam, a town in Palakkad district of Kerala. Although, born in Kerala he grew up in Trichy. He did his schooling in Vailankanni Raj Mat. Hr., Sec School at K.K Nagar, Trichy and did his Mechanical Engineering in Mookambigai College of Engineering, Trichy, Tamil Nadu.

Gautham Menon was a student of mechanical engineering at Mookambigai College of Engineering in the batch of 1993, and his time there inspired him to make his lead characters of Minnale, Vaaranam Aayiram and Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, 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.