ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN
The famous film director Adoor Gopalakrishnan was selected as the head of the international jury of the ‘33rd Cairo International Film Festival’ commencing on 10th November in Cairo, Egypt. This festival will pay special tribute to Adoor at the inaugural function for his life-time contribution to the cinema and his film ‘Naalu Peenungal’ will be screened in the non-competitive section of this festival. The ‘Dabasaheb Phalke Award’ winner, Adoor Gopalakrishnan has an important position in the world of cinema, and he flamed the celluloid with meaningful pictures. Though he has directed only few of Malayalam feature films, but each of his films has been recognized throughout the world. His films were screened at several International film festivals and gained many National and International awards.
BIOGRAPHY
The ace film director, Adoor Gopalakrishnan was born on 3rd July 1941, in a small village named Pallickal,Adoor, Kerala as the son of Moutathu Madhavan Unnithan and Gauri Kunjamma. He showed interest in arts in his childhood. Earlier, he is an actor in amateur plays, and later he concentrated in writing and direction of plays. After gaining the graduation in Economics, Political Science and Public Administration, he worked as a Government officer in Tamilnadu. To study screen writing and direction from the ‘Pune Film Institute’, he left his job and completed the course with a scholarship from the Government of India. After that, he and his friends established the film societies in Kerala titled ‘Chithralekha Film Society’ and ‘Chalachithra Sahakarana Sangham’ which is focused on the production, distribution and exhibition of films in the co-operative sector. These societies gave birth to new generation called ‘Art films’ in Kerala. Gopalakrishnan has scripted and directed critically acclaimed and award-winning feature films in Malayalam. Gopalakrishnan is famous as a master in the film field, and he placed the Malayalam cinema in the world map. His films reveal the crisis of the middle class and the struggle between man and society. His first film was “Swayamvaram” in 1972 , which was considered as a milestone in the history of Malayalam film history. This film gained prestigious ‘National Award’, and it was screened at various film festivals including Moscow, Melbourne, London and Paris film festivals. His other notable films are “Kodiyettam” , “Elippathayam” , “Mukhamukham”, “Anantharam” , “Mathilukal” and “Vidheyan”, “Kathapurushan”, “Nizhalkkuthu” and “Naalu Pennungal”. In these films, the films like “Kathapurushan”, “Nizhalkkuthu” and the recently made “Naalu Pennungal” are equally popular in the world of parallel cinema. In addition to the feature films, he also created more than 30 documentaries and short films. He is the author of three Malayalam books including “Cinemayude Lokam” (The World of Cinema), “Cinemaanubhavan” (The Experience of Cinema) and “Cinema, saahityam, jeevitham” (Film, Literature and Life). He also worked in many posts in film field including member of Sivaramakarath committee, national film award committee member in 1974, member of jury in Venice, Singapore, Hawaii and Delhi international film festivals, chairman of International Film Festival of Kerala in 1999, director of Pune Film and Television Institute, member of the advisory board for National Film Archives, Pune, etc.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Adoor Gopalakrishnan is the companion of many awards and honors. He is the winner of nine times ‘National Film Awards’ and many State & International Film Awards. Indian Government honored him by giving ‘Padma Shree’ in 1984, ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in 2006 and highest cinema award ‘Dabasaheb Phalke Award’ in 2004 for his contributions to the Indian cinema. In addition, he gained ‘British Film Institute award’, ‘Sutherland Trophy’, ‘Legion of Honour’, ‘International Film Critics Prize’, etc.
