BIOGRAPHY

Shaji Neelakantan Karun was born in Kerala, (India) in 1952. In 1971, he entered the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, where he took his diploma in Cinematography. He won the President's medal on passing out in 1975. After graduating he became the cinematographer of nearly 40 films and almost of all films of Aravindan.

After a brief stint in the south Indian city of Madras, he returned to Trivandrum in 1976, where he got an appointment as film officer in the newly formed state Film Development Corporation. His association with the legendary Malayalam film maker G. Aravindan began during the 70’s. Then he continued working with notable directors like K. G. George and M. T. Vasudevan Nair as a cinematographer. His camera work, especially in the films of Aravindan from Kanchana Seeta to Chidambaram, for some defines the look of Kerala's New Wave Cinema.

His directorial debut was not until 1988 with Piravi (The Birth), which attracted tremendous acclaim. Selected in no less than 70 International and National film festivals, amongst them Cannes, it received 31 awards, including the prestigious Charlie Chaplin Award at Edinburgh, the Silver Leopard at Locarno, the Special Mention of Camera d'Or at Cannes, the Silver Hugo at Chicago and President of India's Gold Medal Award for the best film in the year 1989. While Piravi was about the grief of a father who loses his son, Shaji's second film, Swaham (My Own, 1994), continued with the theme of grief. Swaham was selected to the competition section of Cannes Film Festival in 1994.Vanaprastham (The Last Dance, 1999) was his third film. It was also his third to be selected at Cannes Film Festival, an honour bestowed on only a handful of directors in the world. The film was adjudged as the Best film of the National film Festival of India in 1999 and also won several national and international recognitions. Vaanaprastham dealt with the identity crisis faced by an actor. Mohanlal played the lead role in this film. Nishad (Octave, 2002), his latest film in Hindi language, was premiered in the Fukuoka International Film Festival held September 2002 in Japan.

As a short filmaker, Shaji was awarded the Gold medal from the President of India in 1996 and won many honours from several international film festivals. His latest film is A. K. G., a biopic on the life of legendary communist leader A. K. Gopalan.

Besides making films, Shaji Karun has been active as a juror at many International film festivals and an active participant in governmental and academic arenas. He was the premiere Chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra (Moving Picture) Academy, the first academy for film and TV in India and was also the Executive Chairman of the International Film Festival of Kerala from 1998 to 2001 .

For his achievements in cinema, the Government of Kerala honoured him by granting a Civilian Award, 'Prathibha Pranamam', in 2000. In the same year, he was condecorated with the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of France.

FILMOGRAPHY

RETROSPECTIVE