Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Writer – Director Adoor Gopalakrishnan was born in Kerala, India in 1941 into a
family that patronized Kathakali and other classical performing arts. He started acting on
the amateur stage at the early age of eight.
Wrote and directed several stage plays during his student days.
Adoor had his graduation from the Gandhigram Rural University in 1960 specializing in
Economics, Political Science and Public Administration. He left the governmental job of
a statistical investigator to study cinema at the Film Institute of India, Pune. On
graduating in1965 with specialization in Screenplay writing and Advanced Film
Direction, he pioneered the film society movement in Kerala. The same year, he took
the initiative to form India’s first film co-operative for production, distribution and
exhibition of quality films.
He has scripted and directed twelve feature films and about thirty Shorts and
documentaries. Notable amongst the non-feature films are those on Kerala’s performing
arts.
His debut feature, Swayamvaram went on to win the national awards for best film, best
director, best cameraman and best actress.
National award for Kodiyettam
He has since received national awards for best director five times, best screen
playwright twice and best film two times. 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, Anantaram, 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, Nantes, Rotterdam and every
important festival around the world.
His collection of essays, Cinemayude Lokam (The World of Cinema) was given the
national award for the Best book on Cinema in 1984.
Adoor receiving the D Phalke award from President Abdul Kalam
Cinemaanubhavam (The Experience of Cinema), a collection of articles dealing with
the art and practice of cinema won the Kerala State award (2004) for best book on
Cinema.
His third book, Cinema, Saahityam, Jeevitham (Film, literature and Life) was
published in 2005. His fourth book, again a collection of essays, Cinema –
Samskaram (Cinema – Culture) published in 2011 received the Kerala Sahitya
Academy Award for Essay.
In 2002, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington honoured him by holding a complete
retrospective of his work.Other major retrospectives of his films include those at the
Cinematheque in
Receiving the British Film Institute Award
Paris, La Rochelle, Pesaro, Lincoln Centre- New York, Fribourg, Lyons, Ljubljana,
Munich etc. He has served on the juries of Venice, Singapore (Chair), Hawaii, Fribourg
(Chair) Alexandria (Chair), New Delhi, Sochi, Shanghai, Dubai (Chair), Cairo (Chair),
Valladolid (Chair), Goa (Chair) etc.
Venice Jury
International film festivals of Denver, Cairo, MAMI (Bombay), Colombo and New Jersey
have honoured him with Life Time Achievement Awards.In recognition of his
contribution to international cinema, The French Govt. has bestowed on him the ‘Legion
of Honour’ with the title, ‘The Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters’ the top
French honour for culture (2004). In 2005 he received the Dada Saheb PhalkeAward,
India’s highest national honour for Life- time achievement in cinema. The same year
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala conferred on him the honorary degree of D. Litt. In
the year 2006 he received India’s top civilian award, Padma Vibhushan for his
contribution to the Arts (Cinema).
In 2010 the University of Kerala conferred on him the honorary degree of D.Litt. On 15th
April, 2013 the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee formally inaugurated
Jury-Fribourg
‘The Adoor Gopalakrishnan Film Archive and Research Fund’ to preserve his films and
also to encourage and promote study and research of his work. In 2014 he received the
high honour of ‘Deshikottama’ (D.Litt.) from the Viswabharati University of
Shantiniketan.
In 2015 he was awarded the Dr. Bhupen Hazarika International Prize for Life Time
Achievement.
In 2017, he became the receipt of the ‘J. C. Daniel Award’ for Life Time Achievement in
Cinema from the Govt. of Kerala. “ Also, the same year he became the recipient of the
ICON Award given by the London Indian Film Festival.
