GIRISH KASARAVALLI
The famous Kannada filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli was added another feather to his cap. Now he has been honored with ‘Excellence in Cinema’ Crystal Globe Award by South Asian Cinema Foundation in UK. Thus he joined in the list of Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Saeed Akhtar Mirza and M.S. Sathyu who was former recipients of this ‘Crystal Globe Award’. India’s high commissioner to the UK, Nalin Surie presented this award to Kasaravalli. Kasaravalli is the winner of ‘National Film Award’ for Best Film four times for his films including “Ghatashraddha”, “Tabarana Kathe”, “Thaayi Saheba” and “Dweepa”. Recently, his latest film “Gulabi Talkies” had won the ‘National Film Award’ for ‘Best Kannada Film’ and the actress Uma Shri bagged the ‘Best actress award’ through the performance of this film.
BIOGRAPHY
Girish kasaravalli is one of the best film directors of the country and his films were the examination of life in visuals. He was born in Thirthahalli, Shimoga district, Karnataka in 1949 as the son of Ganesh Rao and Lakshmi Devi. In his childhood, he got the inspiration for creative arts from his father who was a leader of ‘Yakshagana’ and from his maternal uncle K.V.Subbanna, a Magsaysay award winner. After completing graduation, he joined in B.Pharma course in the MGM College in Udupi which was famous for many cultural activities. Due to his interest in cinema, he resigned from his pharmacy career and joined in the ‘Film and Television Institute of India’, Pune. He passed out with a gold medal from FTII in 1975 with a specialization in ‘film direction’. His student film titled ‘Avasesh’ won the President’s Silver Lotus award for the best student film in 1975. Girish kasaravalli started his film career with the film “Ghatashraddha(1977)” which won ‘Golden lotus’ award and other international awards. After that, he had won ‘National awards’ for each and every film that he has made, which including Tabarana Kathe (1986), Thaayi Saheba (1997) and Dweepa (2001). Recently, his latest film “Gulabi Talkies” had won the ‘National Film Award’ for ‘Best Kannada Film’ and the actress Uma Shri bagged the ‘Best actress award’ through the performance of this film. His films have been appreciated all over the world and his films have been screened at all the leading film festivals. Most of his films reveal the social conflicts during the six decades of Karnataka after independence. The most interesting fact about him is that he has made only eleven films and a tele serial in his career spanning well over thirty years.
AWARDS AND HONORS
The most important achievement in his film career is that he is the winner of ‘National Film Award’ for ‘Best Film’ four times. In addition, his film “Hasina” won the ‘National Film Award’ for ‘Best Film on Family Welfare’ in 2005 and the films including “Bannada Vesha”, “Gulabi Talkies” won the ‘National Film Award’ for ‘Best Feature Film in Kannada’.