Gayatri Das (born 8 June 1981), known professionally as Geetu Mohandas, is an Indian actress and director known for her works in

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, '' Elippat ...

and

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

. In 2013, she directed the socio political film '' Liar's Dice'' which has received two National Film Awards, was premiered at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

, and was chosen by the

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, ...

as India's entry for the U.S.

87th Academy Awards The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2014 and took place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p ...

, but was not shortlisted or nominated.

As an actress

Geetu's birth name is Gayatri Das. Affectionately called Geetu by her family, the name was adopted as her screen name when she starred in her fourth movie '' Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare'' in 1986 with

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appe ...

in the lead role. Geetu was five years old then and captured the hearts of Malayalam filmgoers as a fatherless child who discovers a father in an anonymous telephone caller. She acted in the top grosser '' En Bommukutty Ammavukku'' as the title role, which was the Tamil remake of Fazil's '' Ente Mamattikkuttiyammakku'' (Malayalam) done by

Baby Shalini Shalini (born 20 November 1979), also known as Baby Shalini, is a former Indian child artist and actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam and Tamil language, Tamil films. During the 80s, Shalini was the most successful child artist in the ...

in the title role. Geetu's first movie as an adult was Life is Beautiful starring Mohanlal in the lead. She went on to act in Thenkasi Pattanam, Valkannadi, Nammal Thammil and several other Malayalam movies. The high point of her career was Akale directed by

Shyamaprasad Shyamaprasad (born 7 November 1960) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor from Kerala. Career Shyamaprasad was born on 7 November 1960 at Palakkad, as the younger son of O. Rajagopal and Santhakumari. He was named after Shyama Prasad ...

, and produced by Tom George Kolath which won her the Kerala State Award for Best Actress in 2004. Geetu also won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam, for her role as Rose, in Akale.

As director

Geetu Mohandas formed her film production house - Unplugged in 2009 which produced her directorial debut short fiction film titled Kelkkunnundo ''Are you listening''. The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and subsequently won 3 International awards for Best Short fiction as well as the National Film Award in India. The film has been included as a chapter in the 12th standard Kerala state syllabus since 2014. Her first feature film

Liar's Dice (film) ''Liar's Dice'' is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language road movie written and directed by Geetu Mohandas and starring Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The film tells the story of a young mother from a remote village who, going in search ...

received the Hubert Bals Fund for script and project development and the film was selected in Competition for the world dramatic competition at

in 2014.

went on to win six major international awards across the world and two National awards in India. It was also India's official entry for the Best Foreign Film category for the 87th Academy Awards. Her second feature film, Moothon was mentored by the Sundance film lab and Geetu also won the Global filmmaker award at

in 2016. Moothon had its World premiere at Toronto International film festival in 2019 and was the opening film at MAMI 2019.

Personal life

She was born as Gayatri Das to Mohandas and Latha on 8 June 1981 at

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of ...

. She studied in India, Malaysia and Canada. On 14 November 2009, she married cinematographer Rajeev Ravi. The wedding took place in

, Kerala, India.

Awards and honours

Moothon participated festivals

*Toronto International film festival - world premiere *Mumbai International film festival- Opening film *International film festival of Kerala *The Valladolid International Film Festival,

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*Palm Springs International film festival *Goteborg International film festival, Sweden *13th Annual Honolulu Film Festival, Hawaii *Le Festival du film d’Asie du Sud (FFAST)

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

*Opening film and won Best film FFAST, Paris *Mardi Gras International Film Festival, Australia *Cinequest International film festival, San Jose *IFFLA, Los Angeles *NYIFF, New York *Nomination, Best film, Best director, Best Actor, Best child actor in NYIFF *International film festival of South Asia, IFFSA *Umbria Film Festival, Italy-Opening film Awards for

* 2013-

National Film Award for Best Actress The National Film Award for Best Actress (officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actress) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role wi ...

- Geetanjali Thapa * 2013-

National Film Award for Best Cinematography The National Film Award for Best Cinematography 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 awards p ...

- Rajeev Ravi * 2014- Sofia International Film Festival - Special Mention award & FIPRESCI AWARD for best film * 2014-

New York Indian Film Festival The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in New York City, and screens films relating to India, the Indian Diaspora, and the work of Indian filmmakers. The festival began in November 2001 and was ...

- Best Actress award * 2014 - Special Jury award at the 18th Sofia International Film Festival - '' Liar's Dice'' * 2014- Pesaro International Film Festival - Lino Micciche Award for the Best Film * 2014- Granada Cines del Sur Film Festival - Bronce Alhambra award

As actress

* 1986 – Film Chamber of Commerce Award for Best Child Artist – ''Onnu Mudal Poojyam Vare'' * 2004 – Amrita Film Fraternity Award for Best Actress – '' Akale'' * 2002 – South Indian Cinematographers Association Award for Best Supporting Actress – ''

Kannaki (film) ''Kannaki ''(English: The Eye) is a 2002 Indian Malayalam-language tragedy film directed by Jayaraj and written by Sanjeev Kilikulam. It stars Nandita Das, Lal, Siddique, Kalpana, Geethu Mohandas and Manoj K. Jayan. It is an adaptation of Wil ...

'' * 2002 – Film Critics Award for Best Actress – ''Shesham'' * 2004 – Film Critics Award for Best Actress –'' Akale'' * 2010 – Film Critics Award for Best Short Film – ''Kelkkunnundo'' ; Kerala State Film Awards *2004 – Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress – '' Akale'', Oridam *1986 – Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist – Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare ;

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassin ...

*2004 – Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam – '' Akale'' ;

Asianet Film Awards The Asianet Film Awards is an award ceremony for films presented annually by Asianet, a Malayalam-language television network from the south-Indian state of Kerala. Asianet says that awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both art ...

* 2004 – Special Jury Mention – '' Akale'' ; Kerala Film Critics Association Awards *2001 – Best Actress – Shesham *2004 – Special Jury Award – '' Akale'' ;Mathrubhumi, Medimix film *2004 – Best character Actress – '' Akale'' ;Ramu Karyat award *2020 – Most promising director – '' Moothon''

Filmography

As an actress

As director

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohandas, Geetu 1981 births Living people Actresses from Kannur Kerala State Film Award winners Indian women film directors Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Indian film actresses Filmfare Awards South winners Malayalam film directors Film directors from Kerala Hindi-language film directors 21st-century Indian film directors 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Indian women screenwriters Malayalam screenwriters Screenwriters from Kerala Artists from Kannur Women artists from Kerala Child actresses in Malayalam cinema