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Jayaraj | |
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| Born | Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair (1960-08-04)4 August 1960 (age 65) |
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| Years active | 1990–present |
Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair, professionally credited asJayaraj (born 4 August 1960), is an Indian filmmaker, who predominantly works in theMalayalam film industry.
He has won many awards, includingCrystal Bear at theBerlin International Film Festival, the Golden Peacock award at theIFFI, and the FIPRESCI Award from theInternational Federation of Film Critics. He is also a seven-time recipient of theNational Film Award and severalKerala State Film Awards. His films includePaithrukam (1993),Desadanam (1996),Kaliyattam (1997),4 The People (2004),Vellapokkathil (2007),Ottaal (2015),Veeram (2016) andBhayanakam (2018).
During his stay atThiruvananthapuram, he attended film festivals including theInternational Film Festival of Kerala and watched many world classics.[1]Kurosawa'sRashomon andDeSica'sBicycle Thieves were among them, and they influenced him immensely.[2]
Bharathan was impressed by Jayaraj and made him his assistant director forChilambu(1986). Jayaraj then went on to be the assistant to Bharathan in six more films including the critically acclaimedOru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam (1987) andVaishali (1988). Jayaraj debuted as director withVidyarambham (1990). His early career mainly produced commercially oriented films likeAakasha Kottayile Sultan (1991),Johnnie Walker (1992),High Way (1995),Thumboli Kadappuram (1995) andArabia (1995).[citation needed]
Notable in his early career wereKudumbasametham (1992),Paithrukam (1993) andSopanam (1993).Desadanam (1997) was followed byKaliyattam (1997) which was an adaptation ofShakespeare'sOthello. It won him theNational Film Award for Best Direction.
In 1999 Jayaraj started his nine-film series projectNavarasa withKarunam, followed byShantham (2001).Shantham won theNational Film Award for Best Feature Film. The third in theNavarasa series wasBheebhatsa, aHindi film followed byAdbutham andVeeram. In 2018, the sixth film in the seriesBhayanakam was released and had won awards forBest Direction,Best Adapted Screenplay andBest Cinematography at the 2017National Film Awards. On 10 June 2019,Tovino Thomas officially announced and shared the poster ofRoudram 2018, the seventh film in the series. While sharing the poster on Facebook Tovino wrote, "The movie is based on real-life incidents that occurred in central Travancore, during the devastating floods that Kerala survived.Roudram 2018 portrays the tempestuous ferocity of nature, and the utter helplessness of humankind before that might."[citation needed]
Of late he has been doing commercial and art films and is successful in both genres. WhileThilakkam (2003) and4 The People (2004) were huge commercial successesKannaki (2002),Makalkku (2005),Daivanamathil (2005) andOttaal (2015) were critically acclaimed.Ottaal made history, becoming the first ever Malayalam movie to have swept all the top awards in the 20-year history of the International Film Festival of Kerala. The film was one of four Malayalam films selected to be a part of the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India in Goa in November 2015.[citation needed]
In an earnest effort towards conserving nature and strengthening people's welfare, Jayaraj founded the Jayaraj Foundation in 2010 and officially launched it on 6 June 2014. World Organisation of Hope's (WOH) ambitious programmeSMART (Sports, Music, Art and Recreation Therapy (Yoga and Meditation)) andBirds Club International are the two projects initiated by the foundation.[citation needed][3]
World Organisation of Hope (WOH) is an organisation aimed at building children's awareness of their rights and to protect them. The programme SMART [Sports, Music, Art and Recreation Therapy (Yoga and Meditation)] is an offshoot of WOH. It supports children and adolescents in their own struggle to secure and defend their dreams.[citation needed]
Birds Club International (BCI) aims at creating miniature rain forests in schools and colleges, to make a better environment both for birds and humans. It plans to bring together thefuture generation and integrating more of society towards nature conservation activities. Several units of BCI have been started in many schools and colleges in Kerala, with the help of the Government of Kerala, to achieve this.[citation needed]
| Year | Film | Award (s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Ottaal | Crystal Bear, Suvarna Chakoram, FIPRESCI award, NETPAC award, Rajatha Chakoram |
| 2005 | Daivanamathil | Best Film Award in Spain, Madrid International Film Festival |
| 2000 | Karunam | Golden Peacock Award, International Film Festival of India- Awards from Federation of International Film Societies, Berlin International Film Fest, Special Mention in Kerala International Film Festival. |
| 2001 | Shantham | Best Cinematography in Festival De 3 Continents, France |
| 1996 | Desadanam | Special Mention atKarlovy Vary International Film Festival in competition section. |
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| Year | Title | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Vidhyarambham | ||
| 1991 | Aakasha Kottayile Sultan | Story credits | |
| 1992 | Johnnie Walker | ||
| Kudumbasametham | |||
| 1993 | Paithrukam | ||
| Sopanam | |||
| 1995 | Arabia | ||
| High Way | |||
| Thumboli Kadappuram | |||
| 1997 | Desadanam | Also Producer | |
| Kaliyattam | |||
| 1998 | Sneham | ||
| Thalolam | |||
| 2000 | Karunam | Part 2, Navarasa series. Also producer | |
| Millennium Stars | |||
| Shantham | Part 1, Navarasa series | ||
| 2002 | Bhibatsa | Part 3, Navarasa series Hindi Language | [4] |
| Kannaki | |||
| 2003 | Thilakkam | ||
| 2004 | 4 the People | ||
| Rain Rain Come Again | |||
| Yuvasena | Telugu film; remake of4 the People | ||
| 2005 | By the People | ||
| Daivanamathil | |||
| Makalkku | |||
| 2006 | Adbutham | Part 4, Navarasa series Released on Rootsvideo OTT Platform in 2021 April 14 | |
| Aanachandam | |||
| Ashwaroodan | |||
| 2007 | Anandabhairavi | ||
| 2008 | Gulmohar | ||
| Of The People | Writer and producer credits | ||
| Sila Nerangalil | Tamil film | ||
| Vellapokkathil | [5] | ||
| 2009 | Loudspeaker | Writer and producer credits | |
| 2011 | Naayika | [6] | |
| 2012 | Pakarnnattam | [7] | |
| 2013 | Camel Safari | [8] | |
| 2015 | Ottaal | [9] | |
| 2016 | Veeram | Part 5, Navarasa series. Also writer. Released also in Hindi & English | |
| 2018 | Bhayanakam | Part 6, Navarasa series. Also writer | |
| 2019 | Roudram 2018 | Part 7, Navarasa series. Also writer | |
| 2020 | Hasyam | Part 8, Navarasa series. | |
| 2021 | Backpackers | ||
| 2023 | Kadhikan | Story and producer credits | |
| 2024 | Manorathangal | Anthology series Segment:"Swargam Thurakkuna Samayam" | |
| 2025 | Shanthamee Rathriyil | Writer and producer credits | [10] |
| Mehfil | Based on the life of Kozhikode Mullassery Rajagopal | [11] | |
| Oru Perumgaliyattam† | Filming | [12] | |
| Niraye Thathakalulla Maram† | Filming | ||
| Aval† | Filming | ||
| Pramadhavanam† | Based on Madhavikutty's short story | ||
| Prakasham Parathunna Penkutty† | The film is based on T. Padmanabhan's short story of the same name |
| International | |
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| National | |
