Shaji N. Karun

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Shaji N. Karun

Born	Shaji Neelakantan Karunakaran (1952-01-01) January 1, 1952 Kollam, Kerala State, India
Occupation	Film director, Cinematographer
Spouse(s)	Anasuya Warrier
Children	Anil, Appu
Parents	N. Karunakaran Chandramati
Awards	1989, Special Mention, Caméra d'Or, Cannes Film Festival (Piravi), Charlie Chaplin Award 1989 (Piravi), Eastman Kodak Award for Excellence (Cinematography), Padmashree by Govt of India 2011 ^[1]
Website
http://www.shaji.info

Shaji Neelakantan Karun (Malayalam: ഷാജി എന്‍. കരുണ്‍; born 1 January 1952) is a National Award-winning Indian film director and cinematographer. His debut film Piravi (1988) won the Caméra d'Or - Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He was the Premiere Chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the first academy for film and TV in India and was also the Executive Chairman of International Film Festival of Kerala from 1998 to 2001. He is best known for his award winning films Piravi (1989), Vanaprastham (1999) and Kutty Srank (2010).

Biography

Shaji N. Karun was born on New Year's Day, 1952 as the eldest son of Mr. N. Karunakaran and Mrs. Chandramati in present day Kollam district in the former state of Travancore state (now Kerala), India. The family moved to Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state in 1963. He did his schooling in Palkulangara H.S. and took a Bachelor's degree from University College, Thiruvananthapuram. In 1971 he entered the Film and Television Institute of India where he took his diploma in Cinematography. His Diploma film Genesis (1974) directed by Rahul Dasgupta got many awards and he started his career. He won the President's medal on passing out in 1975. He is married to Anasuya Warrier, daughter of P. K. R. Warrier, who was his neighbour in Trivandrum for quite some time. After a brief stint in the south Indian city of Madras, he returned to Thiruvananthapuram in 1976 where he got an appointment as film officer in the newly formed state Film Development Corporation. His first son Anil was born on 19 June 1976. His association with the legendary Malayalam film maker G. Aravindan began at this time. Then he continued working with notable directors like G. Aravindan, K. G. George and M. T. Vasudevan Nair as a cinematographer.^[2]^[3]

Career in film direction

Shaji made his directorial debut with the Malayalam film Piravi ("The Birth", 1988), which won him the prestigious Caméra d'Or - Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. While Piravi was about the grief of a father who loses his son, Shaji's second film, Swaham (1994) continued with the theme of grief. Swaham was selected to the compete at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.^[4] Vaanaprastham ("The Final Dance", 1999) dealt with the identity crisis faced by an actor. Mohanlal played the lead role in this film. He directed the film Nishad, made in Hindi, which was completed in May 2002, and premiered in the Fukuoka International Film Festival held in September 2002 in Japan. His latest film is titled Kutty Srank with Mammootty playing the lead role.^[5] The film was released theatrically in Kerala on July 2010. His latest project Gaadha was announced in September 2012, and is expected to commence shooting by November 2014. Music will be composed by the Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner. His new film SWAPAANAM with Jayaram and Kadambari in lead roles has premiered at Dubai International Film Festival on 08 Dec 2013, a rare recognition for Malayalam Cinema as the World premier screening outside India.

He has also made around a dozen short films and documentaries. 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 Academy, the first academy for film and TV in India and was also the Executive Chairman of International Film Festival of Kerala from 1998 to 2001.

Awards and milestones

National Honors

Padma Shri in 2011
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1999)

As a cinematographer

Eastman Kodak Award for Excellence, Hawaii International Film Festival (1989)
National Film Award: Thampu (Circus Tent) (1979)
Awards from the Government of Kerala: Kanchana Sita (1977), Esthappan (1981), Onnumuthal Poojayam Vare (1986)

As a director

Cannes Film Festival, nominated for Palme d'Or (Best Film): Swaham (1994)^[4]
Cannes Film Festival, Caméra d'Or (Special Mention): Piravi (1989)^[6]
London Film Festival, Outstanding Film: Piravi (1989)
Locarno International Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize (Silver Leopard): Piravi (1989)
1999 Cannes Film Festival: Vanaprastham was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival (1999)^[7]

National Film Awards:

2009 - Best Film - Kutty Srank
1999 - Best Film - Vanaprastham
1997 - Best Non-Feature Film - Sham's Vision (English)
1995 - Special Jury Award - Swaham
1989 - Best Film - (Producer) Piravi
1989 - Best Director - Piravi
1979 - Best Cinematographer (Black & White) - Thampu

Kerala State Film Awards:

1999 - Best Director - Vanaprastham
1994 - Second Best Film - Swaham
1988 - Second Best Film - Piravi
1986 - Best Cinematographer - Oridathu
1979 - Best Cinematographer - Esthappan
1977 - Best Cinematographer - Kanchana Sita

Filmography as director

Gaadha (under production)
Swapaanam (2013)
Kutty Shranku (2009)
Nishad (2002)
Vanaprastham (1999)
Swaham (1994)
Piravi (1988)

Short films

Wild Life of Kerala (1979)
Kerala Carnival (1980)
Kannikal (1986)
Sham's Vision (1996)
Bhavam (1998)
G. Aravindan (2000)
Big Man & Small World (2002)
AKG (2007)
"Fine Balance" (2010)
"Waiting" (2011)
"Artist Namboodiri" (under production)

As a cinematographer

Marattam (1988)
Oridathu (1986)
Chidambaram (1985)
"Onnumuthal Poojyam vare" (1985)
Meenamasathile Sooryan (1985)
Pokkuveyil (1981)
Esthappan (1979)
Kummatty (1979)
Thampu (1978)
Kanchana Sita (1977)
Genesis (1974 film)Genesis (1974)

Shaji N. Karun giving a lecture at Saarang 2011, IIT Madras

References

↑ Padma Awards Announced
↑ "Thampu".
↑ ""Panchavadi Palam"".
↑ 4.0 4.1 "Festival de Cannes: Swaham". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
↑ http://nowrunning.com/news/news.aspx?it=16033
↑ "Festival de Cannes: Piravi". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
↑ "Festival de Cannes: Vanaprastham". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shaji N. Karun.

v t e Films directed by Shaji N. Karun

Features	Piravi (1988) Swaham (1994) Vanaprastham (1999) Nishad (2002) Kutty Srank (2009) Gaadha (2013)

Shorts	Wild Life of Kerala (1979) Kerala Carnival (1980) Kannikal (1986) Sham's Vision (1996) Bhavam (1998) G. Aravindan (2000) Big Man & Small World (2002) AKG (2007)

v t e National Film Award for Best Direction

1967–1980	Satyajit Ray (1967) Satyajit Ray (1968) Mrinal Sen (1969) Satyajit Ray (1970) Girish Karnad and B. V. Karanth (1971) Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1972) Mani Kaul (1973) Satyajit Ray (1974) Satyajit Ray (1975) P. Lankesh (1976) G. Aravindan (1977) G. Aravindan (1978) Mrinal Sen (1979) Mrinal Sen (1980)

1981–2000	Aparna Sen (1981) Utpalendu Chakrabarty (1982) Mrinal Sen (1983) Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1984) Shyam Benegal (1985) G. Aravindan (1986) Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1987) Shaji N. Karun (1988) Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1989) Tapan Sinha (1990) Satyajit Ray (1991) Goutam Ghose (1992) T. V. Chandran (1993) Jahnu Barua (1994) Saeed Akhtar Mirza (1995) Agathiyan (1996) Jayaraj (1997) Rajeevnath (1998) Buddhadeb Dasgupta (1999) Rituparno Ghosh (2000)

2001–present	B. Lenin (2001) Aparna Sen (2002) Goutam Ghose (2003) Buddhadeb Dasgupta (2004) Rahul Dholakia (2005) Madhur Bhandarkar (2006) Adoor Gopalakrishnan (2007) Bala (2008) Rituparno Ghosh (2009) Vetrimaaran (2010) Gurvinder Singh (2011) Shivaji Lotan Patil (2012)

National Film Award for Best Cinematography

1967–1980

Black-and-white	Ramachandra (1967) Nariman F. Irani (1968) K. K. Mahajan (1969) K. K. Mahajan (1970) Nando Bhattacharya (1971) Mankada Ravi Varma (1972) Apurba Kishore Bir (1973) K. K. Mahajan (1974) B. S. Lokanath (1975) P. S. Nivas (1976) Balu Mahendra (1977) Shaji N. Karun (1978) Kamal Nayak (1979) Sivan (1980)

Color	M. N. Malhotra (1967) K. S. Prasad (1968) Marcus Bartley (1969) Radhu Karmakar (1970) S. Ramachandra (1971) K. K. Mahajan (1972) Soumendu Roy (1973) Soumendu Roy (1974) Ishan Arya (1975) S. Ramachandra (1976) Soumendu Roy (1977) Govind Nihalani (1978) Rajan Kinagi (1979) Ashok Kumar (1980)

1981–2000

Black-and-white	Shripati R. Bhat (1981) No Award (1982) B. Bindhani and Raj Shekharand (1983) No Award (1984) No Award (1985) Venu (1986) Discontinued after 1986

Color	Ashok Mehta (1981) Balu Mahendra (1982) Madhu Ambat (1983) Jehangir Choudhary (1984) Subrata Mitra (1985) Venu (1986) P. C. Sreeram (1987) Apurba Kishore Bir (1988) Virendra Saini (1989) Santosh Sivan (1990) Apurba Kishore Bir (1991) Venu (1992) Venu (1993) K. V. Anand (1994) Santosh Sivan (1995) Mrinal Kanti Das (1996) Santosh Sivan (1997) Santosh Sivan (1998) Anil Mehta (1999) Ashok Mehta (2000)

2001–present

National Film Award – Special Jury Award (Feature Film)

1978–1980

No Award (1978) No Award (1979) No Award (1980)

Special Mention	Mrinal Sen and Muzaffar Ali (1978) No Award (1979) No Award (1980)

1981–2000

Satyajit Ray (1981) No Award (1982) Mankada Ravi Varma (1983) T. S. Ranga (1984) Sudha Chandran (1985) John Abraham (1986) M. B. Sreenivasan (1987) Ashok Ahuja (1988) Amitabh Chakraborty (1989) Pankaj Kapur, Sunny Deol and Jayabharathi (1990) Soumitra Chatterjee (1991) Sivaji Ganesan and Ketan Mehta (1992) Shashi Kapoor and Pallavi Joshi (1993) Radhu Karmakar and Shaji N. Karun (1994) Shyam Benegal (1995) Amol Palekar and Kirron Kher (1996) Jaimala (1997) Drishyakavya and Ashoke Viswanathan (1998) Kalabhavan Mani (1999) Soumitra Chatterjee (2000)

Special Mention	No Award (1981) No Award (1982) Kumar Shahani (1983) No Award (1984) No Award (1985) Sandip Ray (1986) No Award (1987) Aamir Khan (1988) Anupam Kher and Mohanlal (1989) Anoubham Kiranmala (1990) Mamata Shankar and Raveendran (1991) Sibaprasad Sen (1992) Tahir Hussain, Mahesh Bhatt, Jugal Debata and Susant Misra (1993) Mahesh Mahadevan, Bishnu Kharghoria and S. Kumar (1994) Uttara Baokar, Rohini and Benaf Dadachandji (1995) Dolon Roy and Bhagirathee (1996) Akkineni Nagarjuna and Jomol (1997) Dasari Narayana Rao, Prakash Raj and Manju Warrier (1998) Mohan Joshi, Manju Borah and Kavitha Lankesh (1999) No Award (2000)

2001–present

Janaki Vishwanathan (2001) Prakash Raj (2002) Manoj Bajpai, Roopkatha and Goutam Halder (2003) J. Phillip (2004) Anupam Kher (2005) Vishal Bhardwaj (2006) Anil Kapoor and Feroz Abbas Khan (2007) NFDC and K. M. Madhusudhanan (2008) A. Sreekar Prasad (2009) Bindiya Khanolkar, Sachin Khanolkar and Anant Mahadevan (2010) Anjan Dutt (2011) Rituparno Ghosh and Nawazuddin Siddiqui (2012)

Special Mention	Dilip Doley and Narayan Seal (2001) Jyothirmayi (2002) H. G. Dattatreya and Nedumudi Venu (2003) Gurdas Maan and Pradeep Nair (2004) No Award (2005) Thilakan and Prosenjit Chatterjee (2006) No Award (2007) No Award (2008) Padmapriya Janakiraman (2009) K. Shivaram Karanth and V. I. S. Jayabalan (2010) Mallika and Sherrey (2011) Lal, H. G. Dattatreya, Bishnu Kharghoria, Parineeti Chopra, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Hansraj Jagtap and Thilakan (2012)

Authority control	VIAF: 39583750 SUDOC: 153832665

Persondata
Name	Karun, Shaji N.
Alternative names
Short description	Indian film director
Date of birth	1 January 1952
Place of birth	Kollam, Kerala, India
Date of death
Place of death

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