Jayaraj

For the name (and list of people with the name), see Jayaraj (name).

Jayaraj
Born
Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair

(1960-08-04) 4 August 1960
Kottayam, Kerala, India
Occupations
  • Director
  • Screenwriter
  • Producer
Years active1990–present

Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair, professionally credited as Jayaraj (born 4 August 1960), is an Indian filmmaker, who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry.

He has won many awards, including Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Golden Peacock award at the IFFI, and the FIPRESCI Award from the International Federation of Film Critics. He is also a seven-time recipient of the National Film Award and several Kerala State Film Awards. His films include Paithrukam (1993), Desadanam (1996), Kaliyattam (1997), 4 The People (2004), Vellapokkathil (2007), Ottaal (2015), Veeram (2016) and Bhayanakam (2018).

Early life

During his stay at Thiruvananthapuram, he attended film festivals including the International Film Festival of Kerala and watched many world classics.[1] Kurosawa's Rashomon and DeSica's Bicycle Thieves were among them, and they influenced him immensely.[2]

Career

Film director Bharathan was impressed by Jayaraj and made him his assistant director for Chilambu (1986). Jayaraj then went on to be the assistant to Bharathan in six more films including the critically acclaimed Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam (1987) and Vaishali (1988). Jayaraj debuted as director with Vidyarambham (1990). His early career mainly produced commercially oriented films like Aakasha Kottayile Sultan (1991), Johnnie Walker (1992), High Way (1995), Thumboli Kadappuram (1995) and Arabia (1995).

Notable in his early career were Kudumbasametham (1992), Paithrukam (1993) and Sopanam (1993). Desadanam (1997) was followed by Kaliyattam (1997) which was an adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. It won him the National Film Award for Best Direction.

In 1999 Jayaraj started his nine-film series project Navarasa with Karunam, followed by Shantham (2001). Shantham won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. The third in the Navarasa series was Bheebhatsa, a Hindi film followed by Adbutham and Veeram. In 2018, the sixth film in the series Bhayanakam was released and had won awards for Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography at the 2017 National Film Awards. On 10 June 2019, Tovino Thomas officially announced and shared the poster of Roudram 2018, the seventh film in the series. While sharing the poster on Facebook Tovino wrote, "The movie is based on real-life incidents that occurred in central Travancore, during the devastating floods that Kerala survived. Roudram 2018 portrays the tempestuous ferocity of nature, and the utter helplessness of humankind before that might."

Of late he has been doing commercial and art films and is successful in both genres. While Thilakkam (2003) and 4 The People (2004) were huge commercial successes Kannaki (2002), Makalkku (2005), Daivanamathil (2005) and Ottaal (2015) were critically acclaimed. Ottaal made history, becoming the first ever Malayalam movie to have swept all the top awards in the 20-year history of the International Film Festival of Kerala. The film was one of four Malayalam films selected to be a part of the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India in Goa in November 2015.

Philanthropy

In an earnest effort towards conserving nature and strengthening people's welfare, Jayaraj founded the Jayaraj Foundation in 2010 and officially launched it on 6 June 2014. World Organisation of Hope's (WOH) ambitious programme SMART (Sports, Music, Art and Recreation Therapy (Yoga and Meditation)) and Birds Club International are the two projects initiated by the foundation.[3]

World Organisation of Hope (WOH) is an organisation aimed at building children's awareness of their rights and to protect them. The programme SMART [Sports, Music, Art and Recreation Therapy (Yoga and Meditation)] is an offshoot of WOH. It supports children and adolescents in their own struggle to secure and defend their dreams.

Birds Club International (BCI) aims at creating miniature rain forests in schools and colleges, to make a better environment both for birds and humans. It plans to bring together the future generation and integrating more of society towards nature conservation activities. Several units of BCI have been started in many schools and colleges in Kerala, with the help of the Government of Kerala, to achieve this.

Awards

International awards
Year Film Award (s)
2015 Ottaal Crystal Bear, Suvarna Chakoram, FIPRESCI award, NETPAC award, Rajatha Chakoram
2005 Daivanamathil Best Film Award in Spain, Madrid International Film Festival
2000 Karunam Golden Peacock Award, International Film Festival of India- Awards from Federation of International Film Societies, Berlin International Film Fest, Special Mention in Kerala International Film Festival.
2001 Shantham Best Cinematography in Festival De 3 Continents, France
1996 Desadanam Special Mention at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in competition section.
National Film Awards
Kerala State Film Awards
Filmfare Awards South
V. Shantharam Awards
John Abraham Awards
Asianet Film Awards
  • 2002: Asianet Film Award for Best Director for Kannaki
Ramu Karyatt Awards
P. Padmarajan Awards

Filmography

Year Title Credited as Language Notes Ref(s)
Director Writer Producer
1990 Vidhyarambham Yes No No Malayalam
1991 Aakasha Kottayile Sultan Yes Story No
1992 Johnnie Walker Yes Story No
Kudumbasametham Yes No No
1993 Paithrukam Yes No No
Sopanam Yes No No
1995 Arabia Yes No No
Highway Yes Story No
Thumboli Kadappuram Yes No No
1997 Desadanam Yes No Yes
Kaliyattam Yes No No
1998 Sneham Yes No No
Thalolam Yes No Yes
2000 Karunam Yes No Yes Part 2, Navarasa series.
Millennium Stars Yes Story No
Shantham Yes No No Part 1, Navarasa series
2002 Bhibatsa Yes No No Hindi Part 3, Navarasa series [4]
Kannaki Yes No No Malayalam
2003 Thilakkam Yes No No
2004 4 the People Yes Story No
Rain Rain Come Again Yes No No
Yuvasena Yes Yes No Telugu Remake of 4 the People
2005 By the People Yes No No Malayalam
Daivanamathil Yes No No
Makalkku Yes No No
2006 Adbutham Yes No No Part 4, Navarasa series; Released 2021
Aanachandam Yes No No
Ashwaroodan Yes No No
2007 Anandabhairavi Yes No Yes
2008 Gulmohar Yes No No [5]
Of The People Yes No Yes
Sila Nerangalil Yes Screenplay No Tamil
Vellapokkathil Yes No Yes Malayalam Short film [6]
2009 Loudspeaker Yes Yes Yes
2011 Naayika Yes No No [7]
2012 Pakarnnattam Yes No No [8]
2013 Camel Safari Yes Story No [9]
2015 Ottaal Yes No No [10]
2016 Veeram Yes Screenplay No Malayalam
Hindi
English		 Part 5, Navarasa series
2018 Bhayanakam Yes Screenplay No Malayalam Part 6, Navarasa series
2019 Roudram 2018 Yes Yes No Part 7, Navarasa series
2020 Hasyam Yes Yes No Part 8, Navarasa series.
2021 Backpackers Yes Yes No
2023 Kadhikan Yes Story Yes
2024 Manorathangal Yes No No Segment: "Swargam Thurakkuna Samayam"
2025 Shanthamee Rathriyil Yes Yes Yes [11]
Mehfil Yes Yes No [12]
Oru Perumgaliyattam † Yes No No Filming [13]
Niraye Thathakalulla Maram † Yes No No Filming
Aval † Yes No No Filming
Pramadhavanam † Yes No No Filming
Prakasham Parathunna Penkutty † Yes No No Filming
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair.

References

  1. ^ "cinemaofmalayalam.net: Profile". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  2. ^ "Jayaraj: A director's profile". Rediff.com movies. 20 December 2005. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Birds Club International".
  4. ^ "Bibhatsa". The Times of India. 16 September 2004. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  5. ^ https://www.rediff.com/movies/review/ssg/20081003.htm
  6. ^ "Films on hope and rebuilding". The Hindu. 3 December 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Another new film on Shrividhya". The Indian Express. 21 January 2011.
  8. ^ P.K.Ajith Kumar (14 January 2011). "Lambs to the sacrifice". The Hindu.
  9. ^ "Love in the sands of Pushkar". The New Indian Express.
  10. ^ "'Ottal' is more than an environmental film: Jayaraj". Manorama Online.
  11. ^ "Jayaraj's next titled Shanthamee Raathriyil". Cinema Express.
  12. ^ "ജയരാജിന്‍റെ നായകനായി മുകേഷ്; 'മെഹ്‍ഫിലി'ലെ ഗാനമെത്തി". Asianet News (in Malayalam). 20 July 2025.
  13. ^ "Suresh Gopi-Jayaraj film titled 'Oru Perumgaliyattam'". Cinema Express.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.