P. Jayachandran (born 12 April 1971), better known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Unni R., is an Indian short-story writer and screenwriter, who is known for his work in

Malayalam literature Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puduchery, is one of the six classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary text ...

and

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 ...

. Born in Kudamaloor in

Kottayam Kottayam () is a city in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is the district headquarters of the district and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Kottayam has a population of ...

district, he is currently based in

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 ...

, Kerala, India. He studied in Kudamaloor LP school, CMS college High school,

CMS College Kottayam The CMS College (Church Missionary Society College), established in 1817, is one of the earliest Western-style colleges in India. The college is considered to be the oldest institution of higher education in India along with the Presidency Colle ...

and

Baselius College Baselius College, Kottayam (established in 1964) is a Malankara Orthodox college. It offers various graduate and under graduate courses. It is located in the heart Kottayam, Kerala, India. It is affiliated with Mahatma Gandhi University. Notab ...

. Unni R. won the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Screenplay The Kerala State Film Award for Best Screen Play winners: ReferencesOfficial website
{{ ...

for the film ''Charlie'' (2015).

Career

For the story of same name, he has received the Kerala Sahithya Academy Geetha Hiranyan Endowment, Anganam-E.P. Sushama Endowment and Thomas Mundasseri Award. Ozhivudivasathe Kali has been later made into the film of the same name by Director Sanal Shashidaran. It won the 46th Kerala State Award for Best Film in 2015. He was a recipient of several awards including K.A. Kodunalloor Award and T.P Kishore Memorial Award (both for Praanilokam); V.P. Shivakumar Memorial Award and SBT Award (both for Mudraraakshasam); as well as Abu Dhabi Shakti Award and Ayanam C.V. Sriraman Award (both for Kottayam 17). His works have been translated into English and other Indian languages such as Tamil. His Leela and Bhootam were translated for the Tamil monthly magazine Kaalachuvadu by Tamil poet Sukumaran. Kalinaadakam which was translated to Tamil has been widely read and noted Tamil writer Perumal Murukan opined in his 19th D.C. Kizhakemuri Memorial lecture that Unni R.’s stories have extensive readership in Tamil Nadu along with the veterans such as

Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (17 April 1912 – 10 April 1999), popularly known as Thakazhi after his place of birth, was an Indian novelist and short story writer of Malayalam literature. He wrote over 30 novels and novellas and over 600 s ...

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (21 January 1908 – 5 July 1994), popularly referred to as the Beypore Sultan, was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature, a humanist and an Indian independence activist. He was a novelist and short story writer not ...

M.T. Vasudevan Nair Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Narayanan Nair (15 July 1933 – 25 December 2024) was an Indian author, lecturer, screenplay writer and film director. He was a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and was one of the mast ...

and Madhavikutty. Several of his articles, including one on Nakulan and on Madhavikutty, were also translated to Tamil and English. Indian Literature, a bi-monthly journal of Sahitya Academy featured his translated stories – Catwalk (Vol.231/2006) and Pedestrian named Badushah (Vol 260/2010). Malayalam Literary Survey (Jan-Mar 2008) published the translation of his short story, The Kali Play. Besides screen writing, he has also acted as supporting roles in Aparahnam, Chappakurishu,

Munnariyippu ''Munnariyippu'' () is a 2014 Indian Malayalam-language psychological experimental thriller film directed by Venu and produced by Ranjith, screenplay by Unni R. The film stars Mammootty and Aparna Gopinath, with Nedumudi Venu, Joy Mathew, Pr ...

etc. He started his career as a sub-editor in the Karpooram Weekly, Kottayam, Kerala (1994-1995). He also worked as a Producer in

Asianet Satellite Communications Asianet Satellite Communications Limited is an Indian multi system operator (MSO). It is the largest cable network services company in Kerala since its inception in 1993. It is ranked among the top 20 internet service providers (ISP) in India ...

for a long period of time (1995-2013). Unni R.'s short story "Vaanku" won the 2020 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story and was made into the 2021 film of the same name.

Bibliography

Short story Collections

* ''Ozhivu Divasathe Kali'' * ''Kali Nadakam'' * ''Kottayam 17'' * ''Kadhakal'' * ''Oru Bhayankara Kamukan'' * ''One hell of a lover'', selection of short stories translated from the Malayalam by J. Devika, Chennai: Eka, 2019.

Other works

* Chumbikkunna Manushyar Chumbikkatha Manushyar (Essays) * Basheer (Editor, Essays) *Prathi Poovan Kozhi (Novel )

Filmography

Awards and honours

* Kerala State Film Award 2015 (

Best Screenplay This list of screenwriting awards for film is an index to articles on notable awards given for film screenwriting. The list is organized by region and country of the awards venue or sponsor, but winners are not necessarily restricted to people fro ...

) - Charlie * Geetha Hiranyan Endovement – Ozhivu Divasathe Kali (2006) * Thomas Mundasseri Award – Ozhivu Divasathe Kali * Ankanam E.P. Sushama Endovement – Ozhivu Divasathe Kali *

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 ...

– Kottayam 17 * Ayanam C.V. Sreeraman Award – Kottayam 17 * K.A. Kodungalloor Story Award * T.P. Kishore Award * V.P. Sivakumar Memorial Keli Award * Mohan Raghavan Award for Best Script Charlie * IIFA Award for Best story Charlie * Freedia Entertainments North America Film Award for best Script Charlie

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Unni R. 1971 births Living people Screenwriters from Kerala Malayalam short story writers Malayalam screenwriters Indian male short story writers Indian male screenwriters 21st-century Indian short story writers 21st-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian screenwriters IIFA Utsavam winners