Girish Kasaravalli (born 3 December 1950) is an Indian film director, in the

Kannada cinema Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' direct ...

, and one of the pioneers of the

Parallel Cinema Parallel cinema, or New Indian Cinema, is a film movement in Indian cinema that originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema. Inspired by Italian Neorealism, Parallel Cinema ...

. Known internationally for his works, Kasaravalli has garnered fourteen

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

, including four Best Feature Films; ''

Ghatashraddha ''Ghatashraaddha'' () is a 1977 Indian Kannada language film directed by Girish Kasaravalli starring Meena Kuttappa, Narayana Bhat and Ajith Kumar in lead roles. It is based on a novella by eminent Kannada writer U. R. Ananthamurthy. The film wa ...

'' (1977), '' Tabarana Kathe'' (1986), ''

Thaayi Saheba ''Thaayi Saheba'' () is an Indian Kannada language film released in 1997 directed by Girish Kasaravalli. The film was an adaptation of Kannada novel of same name written by Ranganath Shyamrao Lokapura. Plot summary The film is based on the stor ...

'' (1997) and ''

Dweepa ''Dweepa'' () is a 2002 Indian Kannada-language film by Girish Kasaravalli, based on the novel of the same name by Na D'Souza. It stars Soundarya, Avinash and M. V. Vasudeva Rao in the lead roles. The film deals with the raging issue of build ...

'' (2002). In 2011, he was awarded with the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

, the fourth highest civilian award by

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. A gold medalist from the

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, The film he made to fulfill his diploma, ''Avashesh'', was awarded the Best Student Film and the

National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film The National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film is 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. It is one of several aw ...

for that year. He has received fourteen

.Kannada Cinema Special: Filmography of Girish Kasaravalli
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Early life

Girish Kasaravalli was born in Kesalur, a village in the Tirthahalli taluk in

Shimoga Shimoga, officially known as Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the central part of the state of Karnataka, India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region of ...

district on 3 December 1950 to Ganesh Rao, an agriculturist, as well as a freedom fighter, and Lakshmidevi, a homemaker, one of 10 children (five brothers and four sisters). He had his primary education in Kesalur and middle school education in Kammaradi. Hailing from a family of book lovers, he was initiated to reading from a young age by his father. His father was a patron of

Yakshagana Yakshagaana is a traditional theatre, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, ...

, a folk system of dance native to

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

. He was attracted to the touring talkies which visited his village once in a while to screen popular

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

films. This was his first exposure to the world of cinema. Another relative who supported his love for creative arts was his maternal uncle K.V.Subbanna, a

Magsaysay Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino statesman who served as the seventh president of the Philippines, from December 30, 1953, until his death in an aircraft disaster on March 17, 1957. An automo ...

award winner who founded Neenasam, a critically acclaimed and popular drama company. He shifted to Shimoga where he graduated from Sahyadri College. College was transformative for Kasaravalli as poets G S Shivarudrappa and Sa Shi Marulaiah were his Kannada teachers. He then enrolled for the B.Pharma course in the College of Pharmacy, Manipal. The college was a common place for many cultural activities and kept Kasaravalli's creative interests alive. After completing his degree, he went to Hyderabad for training. But, due to his pre-occupations in cinema and art, he found it difficult to manage his profession and interest together. He decided to quit the career in Pharmacy and join the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

Career

Kasaravalli graduated from FTII

in 1975, with a specialisation in film direction. The world of Kurosawa,

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gr ...

, Ozu,

Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

and

Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

inspired him, and his conviction in neo-realist cinema deepened. In an interview many years later, he recollected how he was inspired by these filmmakers, especially Ozu. While in his final year, he was chosen to be the assistant director for

B. V. Karanth Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth (Kannada: ಬಾಬುಕೋಡಿ ವೆಂಕಟರಮಣ ಕಾರಂತ) (19 September 1929 – 1 September 2002) widely known as B. V. Karanth was an Indian film director, playwright, actor, screenwriter, co ...

for the film ''

Chomana Dudi Chomana Dudi ( kn, ಚೋಮನ ದುಡಿ, ''Choma's Drum'') is a feature film in the Kannada language. It is based on a novel of the same name, written by Shivaram Karanth. The film was released in the year 1975 and won the ''Swarna Kamal' ...

''. He passed out of the FTII with a gold medal to his credit. His student film ''Avasesh'' won the President's Silver Lotus award for the best experimental short film of the year. His first film as an independent director was ''

'' in 1977; it won him the Golden Lotus and a few international awards. This film was followed by many more masterpieces. For a short while, he served as the principal of a film institute in Bangalore. He has worked as associate director for

T. S. Nagabharana Talakadu Srinivasaiah Nagabharana (born 23 January 1953), commonly known as T. S. Nagabharana, is an Indian film director, in the Kannada film industry and a pioneer of parallel cinema. He is one of the few film directors to have straddled th ...

's '' Grahana'' movie during 1981 He won his second Golden Lotus for '' Tabarana Kathe'' in 1987. Considered one of the best edited films in India, it deals with the futile efforts of a retired government servant to earn his pension. In 1997, he came up with another masterpiece, ''

'' which won him his third Golden Lotus award. ''

'' is considered to be the most mature work of the director, dealing with the transition in the Indian society from the pre- to the post-independence periods. The narrative structure was unique, and it had a powerful way of depicting a social situation. He repeated his success with ''

'' in 2002 starring late actress

Soundarya K. S. Sowmya (18 July 1972 – 17 April 2004), better known by her stage name Soundarya, was an Indian actress who worked predominantly in Telugu films and has also worked in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam films. She was regarded as one o ...

. It won his fourth Golden Lotus award. ''

'' was different from his earlier films: It used music extensively and was visually stunning. Apart from these four films winning Golden Lotus awards, Kasaravalli directed ''Akramana'' in 1979, ''Mooru darigalu'' in 1981, ''Bannada Vesha'' in 1988, ''Mane'' in 1990, '' Kraurya'' in 1996, ''Hasina'' in 2004 and '' Naayi Neralu'' in 2006. '' Naayi Neralu'' dealt with a very intense and bizarre concept of reincarnation, based on the novel with the same name by S.L. Bhyrappa. Kasaravalli has given a different interpretation of the subject. It won the Best Film award at KARA film festival, Karachi thus making it the first ever Kannada film to win the top honour in any international festival. In 2008 he directed ''

Gulabi Talkies ''Gulabi Talkies'' is a 2008 Indian Kannada language film by acclaimed Indian director Girish Kasaravalli. It is based on a short story by the same name by Kannada writer Vaidehi. The film premiered at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and A ...

'' based on a short story of the same name by

Vaidehi Vaidehi may refer to: *Of, from or related to the ancient Indian kingdom of Videha **Vaidehi, another name for the goddess Sita **Queen Vaidehi, mother of king Ajatashatru * ''Vaidehi'' (2006 TV series), also known as ''Vaidehi – Ek Aur Agni Pa ...

. It was shown in many international film festivals, winning awards and accolades. In 2010, he made ''

Kanasemba Kudureyaneri ''Kanasembo Kudureyaneri'' ( kn, ಕನಸೆಂಬೋ ಕುದುರೆಯನೇರಿ, ''Riding a Stallion of a Dream'') is a 2010 Indian Kannada language film directed by noted Kannada film director Girish Kasaravalli, based on an anthology ...

'' (Riding the Stallion of Dreams) which, too, won him many international awards. He has finished his ''

Koormavatara ''Koormavatara'' ( kan, ಕೂರ್ಮಾವತಾರ) is a 2011 Indian Kannada drama film directed by Girish Kasaravalli, based on short story of the same name written by Kum. Veerabhadrappa. It stars Shikaripura Krishnamurthy, Jayanthi and Ap ...

'' (The Tortoise, an Incarnation) which won the National film award for the best Kannada film of 2011. In 2015 he made a documentary film on

Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...

named '' Images/Reflections''. The International Film Festival of Rotterdam held a retrospective of Kasaravalli's films in 2003. In August 2017, the Entertainment Society of Goa organized a film festival in Goa in his honour.

Personal life

Kasaravalli married actress Vaishali on 21 April 1978. They have two children: son Apoorva and daughter Ananya. Vaishali died of illness in 2010, aged 59. Kasaravalli is a voracious reader and counts the works of

K. Shivaram Karanth Kota Shivaram Karanth (10 October 1902 – 9 December 1997), also abbreviated as K. Shivaram Karanth, was an Indian polymath, who was a novelist in Kannada language, playwright and an ecological conservationist. Ramachandra Guha called him th ...

Kuvempu Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa (29 December 1904 – 11 November 1994), popularly known by his pen name Kuvempu, was an Indian poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He is widely regarded as the greatest Kannada poet of the 20th century. He wa ...

and U. R. Ananthamurthy among his influences.

Awards and international honours

Notable filmography

References

External links

*
External interview at Rediff on directing Gulabi Talkies

ಕನ್ನಡಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ.ಕಾಮ್ ನಿಂದ ಗಿರೀಶ್ ಕಾಸರವಳ್ಳಿ ಗೌರವಾರ್ಥ – ಕನ್ನಡ ಪರ್ಯಾಯ ಸಿನಿಮಾ ರಸಗ್ರಹಣ ಶಿಬಿರ

The Films of Girish Kasaravalli

Life in Metaphors : A portrait of Girish Kasaravalli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasaravalli, Girish Film and Television Institute of India alumni 1949 births Living people Film directors from Karnataka Kannada film directors Film producers from Karnataka People from Shimoga district Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Filmfare Awards South winners Manipal Academy of Higher Education alumni 20th-century Indian film directors Kannada screenwriters 21st-century Indian film directors 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Hindi-language film directors Screenwriters from Karnataka Best Adapted Screenplay National Film Award winners Producers who won the Best Feature Film National Film Award Directors who won the Best Feature Film National Film Award Directors who won the Best Film on Family Welfare National Film Award