Blessy Ipe Thomas (born 3 September 1963), best known mononymously as Blessy, is an Indian film director and screenwriter 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 won one

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 ...

, three

Filmfare Awards South The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by ''Filmfare'' magazine of The Times Group. When it was intr ...

and nine

Kerala State Film Awards The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...

for his feature films '' Kaazhcha'' (2004), '' Thanmathra'' (2005), '' Pranayam'' (2011) and '' Aadujeevitham'' (2024). '' 100 Years of Chrysostom'' (2018) received the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the longest documentary in the world, with a runtime of 48 hours and 10 minutes. His most recent release was his dream project, '' Aadujeevitham'' (2024).

Early life and family

Blessy was born on 3 September 1963 in

Thiruvalla Thiruvalla, () also spelled Tiruvalla, is a Municipalities of Kerala, municipality in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India. The town is spread over an area of and has a population of 52,883 people, down from 56,837 in 2001. It is also the H ...

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. He was the youngest of six children born to Benny Thomas and Ammini Thomas. He lost his parents at a very young age. He studied at Mar Thoma School, SCS High School and Mar Thoma College in Thiruvalla. Blessy is married to Mini and has two children, Adith and Akhil.

Career

Blessy worked as an

assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...

with filmmakers such as Padmarajan, Lohithadas and

Jayaraj Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair, professionally credited as Jayaraj (born 31 May 1960), is an Indian filmmaker, who predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. He has won many awards, including Crystal Bear at the Berli ...

. He scripted and directed his debut film '' Kaazhcha'' in 2004. ''Kaazcha'' portrayed the story of an orphaned boy, a victim of Gujarat earthquake and how he changes the life of a small-town film operator (played by

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, ...

) and his family. The film won three

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, Government of Kerala and sin ...

s including Best Debut Director, Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value, and Best Actor (Mammootty). His second film was '' Thanmathra'' (2005), which depicted the story of a middle-class government employee (played by

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

) and his family, and portrayed the effects of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

on his life and his family. The film won Blessy National Award for the Best Feature Film in Malayalam and five

s including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Mohanlal). Blessy's next venture had Mammootty in '' Palunku'' (2006), followed by '' Calcutta News'' (2008), starring

Dileep Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, comedian and entrepreneur who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has also acted in Tamil, Hindi, and Kannada films. He has ...

and

Meera Jasmine Jasmine Mary Joseph,
, rediff.com; 1 August 2004. known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian ac ...

, went on to be marginal hits. '' Bhramaram'' (2009), which had Mohanlal once again in the lead role was another successful film. It was a story of revenge against those that falsely accused a man of murder and ruined his life. His 2011 film '' Pranayam'' includes Mohanlal, Anupam Kher, and

Jaya Prada Jaya Prada Nahata (born Lalitha Rani Rao; 3 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician known for her works majorly in Telugu cinema and Hindi cinema as well as in Tamil films in late '70s, '80s and early '90s. Jayaprada is the recipient ...

. His 2013 film '' Kalimannu'' starring Swetha Menon and Biju Menon in leading roles dwelled upon the theme of childbirth and the maternal and paternal connect towards a child. Menon's labor was shot live in the film. He directed a biopic

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

titled ''100 Years of Chrysostom'' (2018) based on the life of Christian prelate Philipose Mar Chrysostom Mar Thoma. Beginning in 2015, it took two years to complete filming. A public screening was held for five consecutive days. With a runtime of 48 hours and 10 minutes, the film received the

for the longest documentary in the world. The film is narrated by Mohanlal. His latest film '' Aadujeevitham'' (2024) was a survival drama based on the novel '' Goat Days'' by Benyamin. It starred

Prithviraj Sukumaran Prithviraj Sukumaran (Help:IPA/Malayalam, /pr̩t̪ʰʋiɾaːd͡ʒ/; born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, producer, director, and playback singer who primarily works in Malayalam cinema, in addition to Tamil cinema, Tamil, Bollywood, Hin ...

in the lead role and had music composed by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

. Development for the film began in 2008 and the film's production lasted for more than 6 years, mainly due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Filmography

As screenwriter and director

As actor

* '' Easan'' (2010) * '' Best Actor'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

Other awards

*2006: Kalavedi International Prathibha Award Best Film Maker – '' Thanmathra'' *2005: Kalavedi International Prathibha Award Best Film Maker – '' Kaazhcha'' *2005: 15th

Ramu Kariat Ramu Kariat (1 February 1927 – 10 February 1979) was an Indian film director for almost three decades from the 1950s to the 1970s, who directed many acclaimed films in the Malayalam cinema. His noted films include '' Neelakkuyil'' (1954), '' ...

Award - '' Kaazhcha''

References

External links

*
Blessy
at the

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blessy Malayalam film directors Kerala State Film Award winners Malayalam screenwriters Living people People from Pathanamthitta Filmfare Awards South winners Indian male screenwriters Screenwriters from Kerala Male actors in Malayalam cinema Indian male film actors 21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Male actors from Kerala 21st-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian screenwriters 1963 births Kerala Film Critics Awards winners