R. Sarath

Not to be confused with R. Sarathkumar.

R. Sarath
Malayalam film director
Born
Vilakkudy, Kollam, India
OccupationFilm director
Years active2000 – present
Websitehttp://www.sarathfilmdirector.com/

R. Sarath is an Indian film director and screenwriter working primarily in the Malayalam film industry based in Kerala. He is rated as one of the internationally reputed film makers from India.

Career

R. Sarath started his film career as a documentary film director. During the filming of his documentary The Painted Epics, he discovered some rare mural paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, which were not exposed to the public yet. These findings have been a landmark in the history of Ravi Varma paintings and was a turning point in his career as an innovative documentary maker as he won many international awards for the same. He also received junior fellowship from Department of Culture, Government of India in 1996 for his research on Murals.

Gaining experience as a documentary and short film maker, he turned into the feature filmmaking. He debuted with the critically acclaimed drama Sayahnam (Twilight) in 2000. The film centred on the environmental and anti-nuclear issue in India, won seven Kerala State Film Awards and a National Film Award.[1][2] Acclaimed as a remarkable film, Sayahnam got invitations from many international film festivals.

Bhumikku Oru Charamagitam (A Requiem to Earth), a short film on eco-feministic aesthetics based on the renowned Malayalam poem by legendary poet O. N. V. Kurup was greatly appreciated for its docu-fictional style and has been screened before elite audience, both at home and abroad.

His next feature film venture Sthithi (Plight) told the tale of a couple employed in the Secretariat. The film received rave reviews and was screened at many international film festivals. The major highlight was that the movie featured playback singer Unni Menon in the lead.[3][4] His third feature film Seelabathi—another drama set in rural Kerala that revolves around the experiences of two young people who come from outside the village—received positive remarks from critics. Sarath says that the film is for "all those girls who have been reported missing from several parts of the State."[5][6]

Purani Dun is his Hindi short film. He also directed a Hindi feature film Indo-Chinese co-production titled The Desire: A Journey of a Woman (2011) that premiered at various international film festivals and fetched numerous honours. It tells the journey of an Indian classical dancer and the love story between her and a Chinese artist, whom she meets during a travel assignment.[7]

In his next Malayalam language feature, Sarath inter-weaved yet another complex theme—that of conflict of belief, the perpetual disagreement between orthodox and unorthodox paths of religion. The film titled Parudeesa (Paradise) earned rave reviews but became controversial even though it is a positive portrayal of Christianity .[8]

Personal life

R. Sarath, a post graduate in English Literature and Journalism, is at present working as Deputy Director at Information and Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala. He had earlier served as the Director to MPCC (Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan) and secretary to Bharat Bhavan, Department of Culture, Government of Kerala. He was also the festival director of IUKFF 2007 at London.

Filmography

Feature films

Year Original title English title Story Screenplay Cast
2000 Sayahnam Twilight Yes Yes O. Madhavan, Remya Nambeesan, Jomole, Saari, Anand, Gomathi Mahadevan
2002 Sthithi Plight Yes Yes Unni Menon, Nandini Goswal, Remya Nambeesan, Mallikasukumaran, Gopalakrishnan, Master Achuth
2005 Seelabathi — Yes Yes Kavya Madhavan, Narain
2011 The Desire: A Journey of a Woman — Yes Yes Shilpa Shetty, Xia Yu Anupam kher, jayaprada, Vikram gokhele, Nakul vaid, Asif Shaiek. Sheethal Menon
2012 Parudeesa Paradise No No Sreenivasan, Thampy Antony, Swetha Menon, Jagathy Sreekumar[Nandu], [LakshmiMenon]
2014 Buddhanum Chaplinum Chirikkunnu Buddha and Chaplin smiles Yes Yes [ Nedumudi Venu], [Indrans], Jagadish, Nadu, Praveena Amrita Anil.malavika menon, lakshmipriya menon

Awards

References

  1. ^ "Sthithi". British Film Institute. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  2. ^ G. Jayakumar (10 February 2006). "Ode to nature". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  3. ^ "Sthithi". The Hindu. 14 October 2002. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  4. ^ "Sthithi". British Film Institute. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  5. ^ "A mirror to society". The Hindu. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  6. ^ "Seelabathi". British Film Institute. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  7. ^ "Shilpa Shetty to star in India-China flick The Desire". Hindustan Times. 25 March 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  8. ^ Satyendran, Nita (25 October 2012). "A question of faith". The Hindu. Kochi, India. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  9. ^ Awards in- South Asian film festival, New Jersey [actress] Asian film festival London[best film] NewYork city international film festival[Actress] Jaipur international film festival[Actress] official selection in London film festival,[2012] Boston international film festival[2011] "The Desire makes waves. The Hindu. April 22, 2011. Retrieved April 25, 2011.