C. L. Jose, in full Chakkalakal Lonappan Jose, is an Indian playwright of Malayalam literature. One of the pioneers of popular Malayalam theatre and a former chairman of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Jose is the author of 36 plays, 75

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

s, one children's play and ''Ormakalkku Urakkamilla'', his autobiography. He is a recipient of the

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Drama The Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Drama is an award given every year by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy) to Malayalam writers for writing a drama of literary merit. It is one of the twelve categories of the Kerala Sahitya A ...

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions The Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions is an award given every year by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy) to Malayalam writers for their overall contributions to Malayalam literature. It is one of the twelve ...

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award is an award given by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Department of Cultur ...

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship is an honour presented by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Depa ...

and S. L. Puram Sadanandan Puraskaram of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.

Biography

Kerala sangeetha nataka academy DSC 5488

C. L. Jose was born on at Puthukad, Thrissur district of the south Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a 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 regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

to Chakkalakal Lonappan and Manjali Mariakutty as the eldest of their nine children. His early education was at St. Mary's Lourde's U.P. School - Thrissur after which he started his career at a Chit fund company in Thrissur as a clerk. He started his literary career as a playwright with ''Manam Thelinju'', which he wrote for a local club in the town when he was 24. This followed a body of work which comprises 36 plays, 75 one-act plays and one children's play. Besides he has documented the story of his life in an autobiography, ''Ormakalkku Urakkamilla''. His plays were popular in the amateur theatre ''Manalkadu'', one of his plays, has been translated into 14 Indian languages and was broadcast through the

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

as a part of their Drama Week. The work was later adapted into a film ''

Ariyatha Veethikal ''Ariyaatha Veethikal'' () is a 1984 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan and written by John Paul. It stars Madhu, Mohanlal, Mammootty, Ramachandran and Rahman. The soundtrack of the film was composed by M. S. Viswana ...

'' by

K. S. Sethumadhavan K. S. Sethumadhavan (15 May 1931 – 24 December 2021) was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He also directed films in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Since the early 1960s, he directed over 60 mov ...

. Subsequently, two more of his plays were made into films viz. ''

Bhoomiyile Malakha ''Bhoomiyile Malakha'' (''Angel on Earth'') is a 1965 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed and produced by P. A. Thomas. The film stars Prem Nazir and Rajalakshmi, with Sukumari, Lakshmi, Adoor Bhasi and Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair in suppor ...

'' in 1965 and '' Agninakshathram'' in 2004. Jose has served as a faculty of fine arts at the

University of Calicut The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a State ownership, state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to ...

, has been a member of the Kerala Sahithya Akademi and the Samastha Kerala Sahithya Parishad, has sat in the advisory board of the

and has presided over the Fine Arts Society of Thrissur. He also chaired the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi for a brief period in the 1990s and serves as a member of the Pastoral council of the Archdiocese of Thrissur. Three of his plays have been included in the academic curriculum; ''Manalkkad'' at the

, ''Jwalanam'' at the University of Kerala and ''Yugathrushna'' at Mahatma Gandhi University. Jose is married to Lissy and the couple has a daughter and two sons. The family lives in Puthukad, in Thrissur.

Awards and honours

Jose, who received the Madras Film Fans Association Award for the best film story for the film Agninakshatram in 1977, received the

in 1978 for his play, ''Jwalanam'' and the year 2008 brought him two awards viz,. the

and the ''Chevalier'' title of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

. The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi inducted him as a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in 2012, and four years later, he received the 2016 S. L. Puram Sadanandan Puraskaram - the highest award in theatre of the Government of Kerala. The Kerala Sahitya Akademi honoured him again with their annual award for overall contributions in 2017. In 2020, he received the

Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award is a literary award instituted by UAE-based Abu Dhabi Sakthi Theatres and awarded to writers in Malayalam literature Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep an ...

for Overall Contribution (T. K. Ramakrishnan Award).

Bibliography

Plays

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Non fiction

* * *

Memoirs

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Filmography

* ''

'' * ''

'' * '' Agninakshathram''

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jose, C. L. Living people Writers from Kerala People from Thrissur district 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Recipients of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award Malayalam-language writers Date of birth missing (living people) All India Radio people 1932 births Recipients of the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award Malayalam-language dramatists and playwrights Dramatists and playwrights from Kerala Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award