Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (born 8 April 1977) is an Indian poet, lawyer, and

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

Personal life

Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was born in

Perumkadavila Neyyattinkara is a municipal town in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, India. It also serves as the administrative headquarters of Neyyattinkara taluk. Nestled along the banks of the Neyyar River, one of the district's principal rivers, the ...

village,

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

district, Kerala on 8 April 1977. He graduated in

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

from VTM NSS College Dhanuvachapuram, Thiruvananthapuram and law, then started his job as a lawyer. He was associated with

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is a student organization in India, registered as a Non-governmental organization (NGO) in 1949. It's a significant student union with over 5 million members, making it one of the largest student or ...

(ABVP), a student organization associated with the

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 ...

, and was the unit secretary of the ABVP during his days at the Law College. He later left ABVP over political differences, and became a critic of the BJP-controlled Central government. In 2001, he formed a film society, Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi with his colleagues, for making independent movies through crowd funding. He has started his film making journey by directing three short films and one feature film through crowdfunding. Later on, he directed six more critically acclaimed feature films and a documentary. He was awarded the Best Director in 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, Government of Kerala and sin ...

s 2014. He was awarded the Tiger Award in the

International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

for his film Sexy Durga. Prakash Raj with sanalkumar sasidharan at KLF 18

Film career

His film career started in 2000 as an art assistant in the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

film ''Mankolangal''. In 2001, he made his first short film ''Wonder World,'' with cinematography by Sunny Joseph, editing by Beena Paul and production by Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi through crowd funding. In 2008 he directed ''Parole'' produced by a group of friends from Malayalam blog community. His third short film ''Frog'', won a Kerala State Television Award for best short film in 2008. In 2014 Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi produced his first feature-length movie '' Oraalppokkam'' for which he had been awarded the Best Director. The film has got

fipresci The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...

and Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema awards for the best Malayalam film in the

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

2014. He has also bagged the Kerala State Film Award for Best Director in 2014. His second movie ''Ozhivudivasathe Kali'' (An Off-Day Game), which was completed in 2015 was officially selected for the

and

Mumbai Film Festival The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in the city of Mumbai, India. Priyanka Chopra, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the chairperson of the trust while Shivendra Singh Dungarpur serves ...

. It was also awarded the Kerala State Film Awards, best film in 2015. The film was in the Film Basar Recommends in the Film Basar in Goa. His next film after '' Sexy Durga'', ''Unmadiyude Maranam'' produced in 2018 has not been censored and released. The film was not screened in any major film festivals. His next feature film ''Chola'' premiered at the

76th Venice International Film Festival The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019, at Venice Lido in Italy. Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel was the jury president for the main competition. Alessandra Mastronardi hosted the ...

in the Orizzonti Competition section. The main actors, Nimisha Sajayan has received the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India since 1969 to an actress for the best performance within the Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. Until 1997, the awards w ...

and actor

Joju George Joseph "Joju" George (born 22 October 1977) is an Indian actor, playback singer, director, writer and producer who primarily works in Malayalam cinema along with Tamil, and Telugu cinemas. In 2015, he won the Kerala State Film Award � ...

has won the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Character Actor The Kerala State Film Award for Best Character Actor is an award, begun in 2015, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for his performance in a Malayalam film Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollyw ...

and Kerala State Film Award – Special Mention for Direction and Sound design to Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. His sixth feature film project Ah'r (Kayattam), announced in 2019 has been noted for the presence of acclaimed Malayalam actress

Manju Warrier Manju Warrier (; born 10 September 1978/1979) is an Indian actress, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, a Kerala State Film Award and seven Filmfare Awards South. Warrier made her actin ...

as protagonist and a co-producer. The film was premiered in the

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held fro ...

in the year 2020 and nominated for Kim Jiseok Award. The film has also been screened in the

in 2021 under the Malayalam Cinema Today category. Kayattam has also competed in the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne in August 2021 and Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was awarde the first "Disruptor in Cinema Award". The film was entirely shot using iPhone camera in the Himalayan peaks. Later the film also won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Cinematography to its cinematographer Chandru Selvaraj and coulourist Liju Prabhakar for the excellence in colour grading in the 51st Kerala State Film Awards. He has made another feature film immediately after Kayattam with Tovino Thomas as hero titled, Vazhakku. Tovino Thomas has co-produced the film along with Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. The film premiered in the International Film Festival of South Asia - Seoul 2022 under the theme of “Journey to South Asia through the Movie”. The film has also been screened in the

in the Malayalam Cinema Today section in December 2022 and received rave reviews. Huge audience influx to watch Vazhakk caused the delegates to protest in front of the theatre alleging that many who had not reserved seats through prior online booking were allowed to attend the theatre

International recognition

Sasidharan's 2017 film Sexy Durga, was renamed as S Durga following controversy of the original title which was banned by the Indian

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...

. The film S Durga (Sexy Durga), received the Hivos Tiger Award at the

2017, making it the first ever Indian film win this award. The film, cinematographed by Prathap Joseph also has won eight more international awards including the Award for Professional Achievement in the Tarkovsky Film Festival in Russia for the excellence in cinematography, the Golden Apricot Award in the International Feature Competition category in Yerevan International Film Festival 2017, Best International Feature Narrative in Guanajuato International Film Festival, Mexico Expresión en Corto International Film Festival 2017, Best International Feature award Reflet d’Or in the Geneva International Film Festival, The Young Jury award and a Special mention from the official Jury in the 53rd Pesaro Film Festival in Italy, Jury Mention for Direction and Original Music track in Cinema Jove - International Film Festival of Valencia, Spain, Special Jury mention in the 19th Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI). The work in progress project of the film had also received NFDC FILM BAZAAR – DI Award 2016. The film faced huge controversy making headlines following the

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India) The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is a ministerial level agency of the Government of India responsible for the formulation and administration of rules, regulations and laws in the areas of information, broadcasting, the press, and th ...

denying permission to screen the film in the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

after Jury selection, due to the title.

Filmography

Awards

* Hivos Tiger Award

in 2017 * Golden Apricot Award Yerevan International Film Festival in 2017 * Award for the Best International Feature in the Expresión en Corto International Film Festival/Guanajuato International Film Festival, Mexico *Disruptor Award Indian Film Festival of Melbourne in 2021 for the film Kayattam * Special Jury Award For Direction in Valencia International Film Festival - Cinema Jove, in 2017 *Special Jury mention for best film scoring for Sexy Durga for music by Basil Joseph in Valencia International Film Festival - Cinema Jove, in 2017 *Young Jury Award in the Pesaro International Film Festival2017 for Sexy Durga *Special Jury Mention in the Pesaro International Film Festival 2017 for Sexy Durga *Award for professional Achievement - Excellence in cinematography for Sexy Durga in the Tarkovsky Zerkalo International Film Festival, Russia *

Kerala State Film Award for Best Film The Kerala State Film Award for Best Film is an award presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to the best film in Malayalam cinema. The awards are managed directly by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy under the Department ...

in the 2015 Kerala State Film Awards * Best Director award in the

2014 Kerala State Film Awards The 45th Kerala State Film Awards were presented by the chief minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy on 26 December 2015, with the presence of the chief guest Mohanlal. Jury The 10-member jury, headed by John Paul, was composed of people represen ...

*Fipresci Award for Oraalppokkam in the 19th

*Fipresci Award for Ozhivudivasathe Kali in the 20th

*Special Jury Mention in the Jio MAMI Mumbai film festival

Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in the city of Mumbai, India. Priyanka Chopra, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the chairperson of the trust while Shivendra Singh Dungarpur serves ...

2017 for Sexy Durga *Special Jury Mention in the 49th Kerala State Film Awards for Direction for Chola (film) in the year 2019 *Special Jury Mention in the 49th Kerala State Film Awards for sound design for Chola (film) in the year 2019 *Special Jury award in the

John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Known for his stoic action hero persona, he is a recipient of a National Film Award along with nominations for four Filmfare Awards. Abraham ha ...

Awards 2014 *Special Jury mention in the Aravindan Puraskaram 2014 *Mohan Raghavan award Best director 2014

References

External links

*
Official Website

Fipresci Profile

Kiff2014 profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sasidharan, Sanal Kumar Malayalam film directors 1977 births Living people Film directors from Thiruvananthapuram 21st-century Indian people