Ramasimhan Aboobakker (born Ali Akbar Aboobakker; 20 February 1963), formerly credited as Ali Akbar, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, editor, and lyricist, who works in

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both th ...

. He has had directed more than 20 Malayalam films. He is mostly known for directing comedy-drama films, such as '' Junior Mandrake'', '' Gramapanchayath'', '' Kudumba Vaarthakal'', and ''

Bamboo Boys ''Bamboo Boys'' is a 2002 Indian Malayalam-language comedy film written and directed by Ali Akbar. It stars Kalabhavan Mani, Cochin Haneefa, Harishree Ashokan, Salim Kumar, Nadirshah, Jagathy Sreekumar and Kalabhavan Shajohn. The film was releas ...

''. He won the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Debut Director The Kerala State Film Award The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a cinema of kerala, motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs (Kerala), Department of Cultural Affairs ...

for his debut film ''

Mamalakalkkappurathu ''Mamalakalkkappurathu'' () is a 1988 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Ramasimhan. The film stars Manoj K. Jayan, Anil, Elias and Kilimol in the lead roles. The film has musical score by Mohan Sithara. The film won ...

'' (1988), and the

National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film The National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film was one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. ...

for ''Rabia Chalikkunnu'' (1996). He was professionally credited as Ali Akbar until 2021. In 2021, he left

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and started practising

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

, he changed his name to Ramasimhan.

Early life

He was born in a Mappila Muslim family in

Meenangadi Meenangadi is an old town situated on the highway NH 766 between Kalpetta and Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad District, in Kerala, India. This place is one among the Provinces where the existence of Dolmens provide an historical evidence of earlie ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, India, on 20 February 1963.

Film career

Ramasimhan made his directorial debut with the 1988 Malayalam film ''

'', for which he won the

that year. In 1995, he directed '' Pai Brothers'', a comedy-drama starring

Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is prior to the sense of legal guilt and is a primal emotion connected with the sense of self. It is often confused as being the op ...

and

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar Achary (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four deca ...

as two entrepreneurs entrapped in a

love triangle A love triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with someone is simultaneo ...

. His 1997 comedy film '' Junior Mandrake'' is one of his best known works, starring

Jagadish P. V. Jagadish Kumar, Born On (12 June 1955) mononymously as Jagadish, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, and television presenter. He has starred in over 400 Malayalam films and two Hindi films. He is best known for his comic and character rol ...

and Jagathy Sreekumar. It was based on the bust of Junior Mandake which is believed to be a

jinx A jinx (also jynx), in popular superstition and folklore, is a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck. Examples of "jinxing" in the 21st-century press include the suggestion a ship might be "jinxed". The connection was made wi ...

. The film was a commercial success. In 2002, he directed another comedy film, ''

'', about four tribal men who come out of jungle on a quest to find a doctor in the city. His 1996 drama film ''Rabia Chalikkunnu'' won the

at the 44th

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

. It was followed by

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

films '' Gramapanchayath'' (1998), '' Kudumba Vaarthakal'' (1998) and ''

Swastham Grihabharanam ''Swastham Grihabharanam'' () is a 1999 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Ali Akbar and produced by Kamarudeen K. The film stars Mukesh, Jagathy Sreekumar, Sukanya and Jagadish in the lead roles. The film has musical score by Berny-Ign ...

'' (1999). His directorial ''

Senior Mandrake ''Senior Mandrake'' is a 2010 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film directed by Ali Akbar. It is a sequel to the 1997 film '' Junior Mandrake''. Jagathy Sreekumar, Jagadish and Kalpana plays the lead roles. The film bombed at the box offic ...

'' (2010), a sequel to ''Junior Mandrake'', received unfavourable reviews. In 2011, he was banned by FEFKA for associating with acot

Thilakan Palappurathu Keshavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appeara ...

and directing the film '' Achan'' with him in the lead role. In 2012, he directed ''Ideal Couple''. In 2020, Ramasimhan announced a film on

Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji sometimes called Variyamkunnan (1875–1877 – 20 January 1922) was a prominent leader during the war in Malabar against the British, during the Malabar rebellion, and the founder of a parallel government. He ...

, which was produced through

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

, titled '' 1921: Puzha Muthal Puzha Vare'', based on the 1921

Malabar rebellion The Malabar rebellion of 1921 (also called Moplah rebellion, and Mappila rebellion, Malayalam: ''malabār kalāpam'') started as a resistance against the British colonial rule in certain places in the southern part of old Malabar district of pr ...

. The film was released in March 2023.

Personal life

Ramasimhan is married to Lucyamma and the couple have two daughters.

Religion

In 2015, Ramasimhan said that he was a victim of

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in Human sexual activity, sexual activit ...

as he was abused by an ''

ustad Ustad, ustadh, ustaz or ustadz (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian language, Persian ''ustād'') is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages, incl ...

'' (teacher) at his

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

when he was eight years old. In December 2021, Ramasimhan announced that he is renouncing

and he and his wife have decided to convert to Hinduism, and has changed his name to Ramasimhan. He said the decision came after seeing disrespectful reactions by many

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

who put

laughing emoji Face with Tears of Joy (😂) is an emoji depicting a face crying with laughter. It is part of the Emoticons block of Unicode, and was added to the Unicode Standard in 2010 in Unicode 6.0, the first Unicode release intended to release emoji char ...

to the news about the accidental death in a helicopter crash of then Chief of Defence Staff

Bipin Rawat Bipin Rawat (16 March 1958 – 8 December 2021) was an Indian military officer who was a Four-star rank, four-star General (India), general of the Indian Army. He served as the first Chief of Defence Staff (India), Chief of Defence Staff (CDS ...

Politics

Ramasimhan was an

Students' Federation of India The Students' Federation of India (SFI) is a left-wing student organization in India that upholds ideology of independence, democracy, and socialism. History The origin of Indian students movement in its organised form can be traced to th ...

(SFI) leader during his school days. After that, he stayed away from politics for a long period. In 2014, Ramasimhan contested in the

2014 Indian general election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

from

Vatakara Lok Sabha constituency Vatakara Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 20 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Kerala state in southern India. Assembly segments Vatakara Lok Sabha constituency is composed of the following assembly segments: Members of Parlia ...

as an

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP, ) is a List of political parties in India, political party in India. It was founded on 26 November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions, following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement against then gover ...

(AAP) candidate. But lost to

Mullappally Ramachandran Mullappally Ramachandran (born 7 November 1944) is an Indian politician and former president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He is a member of the Indian National Congress, and the son of Congress leader Mullappally Gopalan. ...

. He left AAP within 15 days after election, alleging he found evidence for financial corruption within the party in

. He said he also communicated the matter with Sarah Joseph who also left the party. In 2016, he contested in the

2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election The 2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election was held on 16 May 2016 to elect 140 MLA (India), MLAs to the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly. Voter turnout was 77.53%, up from 75.12% in the previous election. The result was declared on 19 May 20 ...

from Koduvally constituency as a

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP) candidate. But lost to Karat Razak. In 2021, he resigned from BJP state committee, citing discontent to the party's then state leadership.

Filmography

Awards

* 1988 -

- '' Maamalakalkkappurath'' * 1996 - 44th

- ''Rabia Chalikkunnu''

References

External links

*
Ali Akbar at Msidb
* {{Authority control 1963 births Living people Malayalam screenwriters Malayalam-language lyricists People from Wayanad district 20th-century Indian people 21st-century Indian people Film directors from Wayanad district Screenwriters from Kerala Converts to Hinduism from Sunni Islam Indian former Sunni Muslims Indian Hindus