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Adoor Gopalakrishnan is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter and Producer Indian born on 3 july 1941 at Adoor (Inde)
Moutatthu Gopalakrishnan Unnithan (born 3 July 1941), commonly known as Adoor Gopalakrishnan, is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer. Adoor Gopalakrishnan had a major role in revolutionizing Malayalam cinema and is regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of India. Adoor's first film Swayamvaram (1972) pioneered the new wave cinema movement in Kerala. Most of his films go to festivals around the world, and are released in Kerala. All the eleven films he directed, from Swayamvaram to Oru Pennum Randaanum (2008), were screened at several international film festivals and won him several national and international awards. He won National Film Awards sixteen times, Kerala State Film Awards seventeen times and also won several international film awards. He won the prestigious British Film Institute award for Elippathayam (1981). Adoor received the Padma Shri in 1984 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2006. The Nation honoured Adoor for his valuable contributions to Indian cinema by awarding him the highest cinema award of India, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2004.
Adoor has scripted and directed eleven feature films and about thirty short films and documentaries. Notable amongst the non-feature films are those on Kerala’s performing arts.
Adoor's debut film, the national award winning Swayamvaram (1972) was a milestone in Malayalam film history. The film was exhibited widely in various international film festivals including those held in Moscow, Melbourne, London and Paris. The films that followed namely Kodiyettam, Elippathayam, Mukhamukham, Anantaram, Mathilukal, Vidheyan and Kathapurushan lived up to the reputation of his first film and were well received by critics at various film festivals and fetched him many awards. However, Mukhamukham was criticized in Kerala while Vidheyan was at the centre of a debate due to the differences in opinion between the writer of story of the film Sakhariya and Adoor.
Adoor's later films are Nizhalkuthu, narrating the experiences of an executioner who comes to know that one of his subjects was innocent, and Naalu Pennungal, a film adaptation of four short stories by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai.
All his films have won national and international awards (National award for best film twice, best director five times, and best script two times. His films have also won his actors and technicians several national awards). Adoor’s third feature, Elippathayam won him the coveted British Film Institute Award for 'the most original and imaginative film' of 1982. The International Film Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) has gone to him six times successively for Mukhamukham, Anantharam, Mathilukal, Vidheyan, Kathapurushan and Nizhalkkuthu. Winner of several international awards like the UNICEF film prize (Venice), OCIC film prize (Amiens), INTERFILM Prize (Mannheim) etc., his films have been shown in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, London, Rotterdam and every important festival around the world.
In consideration of his contribution to Indian cinema, the nation honoured him with the title of Padma Shri(India's fourth highest civilian award) in 1984 and Padma Vibhushan(India's second highest civilian award) in 2006.
Adoor is settled in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in Kerala. His daughter Aswathi Dorje is an IPS officer (part of the Assam cadre, 2000 batch), currently acting as Deputy Commissioners of Police in Mumbai since June 2010.
Source : Wikidata
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Birth name Moutathu Gopalakrishnan Unnithan
Nationality Inde
Birth 3 july 1941 (83 years) at Adoor (Inde)
Awards Legion of Honour, Padma Shri, Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Padma Vibhushan
Nationality Inde
Birth 3 july 1941 (83 years) at Adoor (Inde)
Awards Legion of Honour, Padma Shri, Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Padma Vibhushan
Biography
Gopalakrishnan was born on 3 July 1941 in the village of Pallickal (Medayil Bungalow) near Adoor, present day Kerala, India as the son of Madhavan Unnithan and Mouttathu Gauri Kunjamma. He started his artistic life as an actor in amateur plays when he was 8. Later he shifted his base to writing and direction and wrote and directed a few plays. After securing a degree in Economics, Political Science and Public Administration in 1961 from the Gandhigram Rural Institute, he worked as a Government officer near Dindigul in Tamil Nadu . In 1962, he left his job to study screenwriting and direction from the Pune Film Institute. He completed his course from there with a scholarship from the Government of India. With his classmates and friends, Adoor established Chithralekha Film Society and Chalachithra Sahakarana Sangham; the organization was the first film society in Kerala and it aimed at production, distribution and exhibition of films in the co-operative sector.Adoor has scripted and directed eleven feature films and about thirty short films and documentaries. Notable amongst the non-feature films are those on Kerala’s performing arts.
Adoor's debut film, the national award winning Swayamvaram (1972) was a milestone in Malayalam film history. The film was exhibited widely in various international film festivals including those held in Moscow, Melbourne, London and Paris. The films that followed namely Kodiyettam, Elippathayam, Mukhamukham, Anantaram, Mathilukal, Vidheyan and Kathapurushan lived up to the reputation of his first film and were well received by critics at various film festivals and fetched him many awards. However, Mukhamukham was criticized in Kerala while Vidheyan was at the centre of a debate due to the differences in opinion between the writer of story of the film Sakhariya and Adoor.
Adoor's later films are Nizhalkuthu, narrating the experiences of an executioner who comes to know that one of his subjects was innocent, and Naalu Pennungal, a film adaptation of four short stories by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai.
All his films have won national and international awards (National award for best film twice, best director five times, and best script two times. His films have also won his actors and technicians several national awards). Adoor’s third feature, Elippathayam won him the coveted British Film Institute Award for 'the most original and imaginative film' of 1982. The International Film Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) has gone to him six times successively for Mukhamukham, Anantharam, Mathilukal, Vidheyan, Kathapurushan and Nizhalkkuthu. Winner of several international awards like the UNICEF film prize (Venice), OCIC film prize (Amiens), INTERFILM Prize (Mannheim) etc., his films have been shown in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, London, Rotterdam and every important festival around the world.
In consideration of his contribution to Indian cinema, the nation honoured him with the title of Padma Shri(India's fourth highest civilian award) in 1984 and Padma Vibhushan(India's second highest civilian award) in 2006.
Adoor is settled in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in Kerala. His daughter Aswathi Dorje is an IPS officer (part of the Assam cadre, 2000 batch), currently acting as Deputy Commissioners of Police in Mumbai since June 2010.
Usually with
Filmography of Adoor Gopalakrishnan (12 films)
Actor
Add to a movie list
Celluloid Man (2012)
, 2h30Directed by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
Genres Biography, Documentary
Themes Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the film industry
Actors Krzysztof Zanussi, Lester James Peries, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Gulzar, Naseeruddin Shah
Roles Self
Rating75%
P. K. Nair’s fascination with cinema began as a child and he watched his first few films lying on the white sand floor of a cinema in Trivandrum. He was a collector even then - collecting ticket stubs, lobby cards, even weighing machine tickets sporting pictures of the stars of the day. He grew up to be a great collector of films.
Director
A Climate for Crime (2008)
, 1h55Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Nedumudi Venu, M.R. Gopakumar, Vijayaraghavan, Seema G. Nair, Sudheesh, P. V. Jagadish Kumar
Rating64%
The four chapters of the film tell stories, which are independent of each other. The only connection between them is the recurring theme of crime. With the flow of the movie, there is an increase in the complexity of the crimes.
Four Women (2007)
, 1h45Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Padmapriya, Nandita Das, Kavya Madhavan, Geetu Mohandas, Murali, Manju Pillai
Rating64%
Naalu Pennungal is the story of four women from Kuttanad in Alappuzha district in Kerala. The stories are set in the years between the 1940s to the 1960s.
Nizhalkuthu (2002)
, 1h30Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Themes Films about capital punishment
Actors Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Sukumari, Murali, Sivakumar, Narain, Shivaji
Rating72%
The plot is set in the 1940s in a village of Travancore, British India. Kaliyappan, the last hangman of Travancore dynasty is dragging his remaining life by consuming alcohol and worshipping the Mother Goddess. The reason for this self-destruction is the remorse born out of the feeling that the last man he hanged was an innocent.
Man of the Story (1995)
, 1h47Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Aranmula Ponnamma, Narendra Prasad, Urmila Unni, Babu Namboothiri, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Oduvil Unnikrishnan
Rating70%
Kunjunni's (Vishwanathan) parents separate soon after his birth, and he's left to be cared by his mother, void of paternal care and affection. He is brought up by his mother with the help of his grandmother, an estimate manager and his friend Meenakshi (Mini Nair), the daughter of a maid servant working in Kunjunni's house. Inspired by his Uncle (Narendra Prasad), who was initially a Gandhian, and eventually a Marxist, Kunjunni finds himself drawn to left-wing ideologies during his studies at college, believing that communism is the answer to heal all social hardships and inequalities. Eventually he joins an extremist Marxist group, and his affairs land him in trouble. After an attack at a police station, Kunjunni is arrested and taken to court, but later acquitted of all charges.
Vidheyan (1994)
, 1h52Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Mammootty, Tanvi Azmi, M.R. Gopakumar, Sabitha Anand, Azeez, Babu Namboothiri
Rating82%
Thommy, a Christian migrant labourer from Kerala is an obedient slave of his aggressive, tyrannical landlord Bhaskara Pattelar. Thommy obeys all the orders of his master, whether it is to make his own wife sexually available to his master or in killing Pattelar's kindly wife, Saroja. When Pattelar escapes to a jungle, due to his own deeds, Thommy escorts him like a pet. But when Pattelar is killed Thommy exults in freedom.
Mathilukal (1990)
, 2hDirected by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama, Biography, Romance
Actors Mammootty, Murali, Krishnan Kutty Nair, Sreenath, Karamana Janardanan Nair, Thilakan
Rating81%
Confined to the narrow space of a prison cell, Bashir falls in love with a woman in the neighbouring prison compound. They are separated by a high wall so that they never see each other and have to devise ingenious ways for communicating. Narayani, Bashir's love is presented as a female voice and never appears in person in the film.
Anantaram (1987)
, 2h5Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Mammootty, Ashokan, Shobana, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, Sudheesh, Bahadoor
Rating79%
The film develops through a commentary by Ajayan (Ashokan) about himself in the first person. Later he tells another story about his life with the same background. Finally both these stories fuse together.
Face to Face (1984)
, 1h47Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Kaviyoor Ponnnamma, Karamana Janardanan Nair, Thilakan, Alummoodan, Ashokan, Azeez
Rating68%
The film starts in the early 1950s showing Sreedharan, the protagonist, as a very popular communist leader and trade union activist. He is forced to go underground after his name was associated with the murder of the owner of a tile factory. He is considered to be dead by his party and they even erect a memorial for him. But he makes an unexpected comeback almost 10 years later, after the first communist ministry gained and lost power in Kerala and after the Communist Party of India has split. On his return, he spends his time sleeping and drinking. His come back is first a puzzle and then an embarrassment to his comrades and family. As the disappointment on his new face grows, he is found murdered. The film ends when both the communist parties jointly celebrate his martyrdom.
Elippathayam (1982)
, 2h1Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Karamana Janardanan Nair, Sharada, Balan K. Nair, Jalaja, Devan
Rating74%
A middle-aged man, Unni, and his three sisters struggle as the feudal way of life becomes unviable in Kerala. Eventually, succumbing to the adverse conditions surrounding him, Unni becomes helpless like a rat in a trap. The 'rat trap' is a metaphor for a state of oblivion to changes in the external world, such as the disintegration of the feudal system, in which some are caught and which leads to destruction.
Kodiyettam (1978)
, 2h8Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Bharath Gopi, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, Kaviyoor Ponnnamma, Kuttyedathi Vilasini, Adoor Bhavani
Rating71%
The film captures the ascent of the protagonist, Shankaran Kutty, from a carefree individual to a mature responsible adult. The opening sequences, canned by the director himself, shows Shankaran Kutty- attending a temple festival. The film proceeds to show the irresponsible and often nomadic life style of Shankaran Kutty. Shankaran Kutty, though seemingly at the beginning of middle age, spends most of his time playing around with children, joining political processions and helping the villagers when he is not attending temple festivals. He is provided for by his younger sister who works as a house maid in the city of Thiruvananthapuram. His sister in an attempt to get his life organized arranges a marriage for him. But to the dismay of his new wife, Shankaran Kutty continues his life style often staying away from home for weeks. The already pregnant wife soon leaves him, and Shankaran Kutty does not make any attempt to have her back at home.
One's Own Choice (1972)
, 2h11Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Madhu, Sharada, Adoor Bhavani, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, Bharath Gopi
Rating70%
A newly wed couple, Vishwam (Madhu) and Sita (Sharada), have married against the preference of their families, and left their hometown. Both want to start a new life at a new place. Initially, they stay in a decent hotel but soon due to financial reasons they move to another, ordinary hotel.
Scriptwriter
A Climate for Crime (2008)
, 1h55Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Nedumudi Venu, M.R. Gopakumar, Vijayaraghavan, Seema G. Nair, Sudheesh, P. V. Jagadish Kumar
Roles Writer
Rating64%
The four chapters of the film tell stories, which are independent of each other. The only connection between them is the recurring theme of crime. With the flow of the movie, there is an increase in the complexity of the crimes.
Four Women (2007)
, 1h45Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Genres Drama
Actors Padmapriya, Nandita Das, Kavya Madhavan, Geetu Mohandas, Murali, Manju Pillai
Roles Ecrivain
Rating64%
Naalu Pennungal is the story of four women from Kuttanad in Alappuzha district in Kerala. The stories are set in the years between the 1940s to the 1960s.
Nizhalkuthu (2002)
, 1h30Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Themes Films about capital punishment
Actors Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Sukumari, Murali, Sivakumar, Narain, Shivaji
Rating72%
The plot is set in the 1940s in a village of Travancore, British India. Kaliyappan, the last hangman of Travancore dynasty is dragging his remaining life by consuming alcohol and worshipping the Mother Goddess. The reason for this self-destruction is the remorse born out of the feeling that the last man he hanged was an innocent.