Daijiworld Media Network - Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 7: Renowned Malayalam filmmaker and screenwriter R Sarath passed away at the age of 63 at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. He was known for his critically acclaimed films including Sayahnam, Sthithi, Seelabathi and Buddhanum Chaplinum Chirikkunnu.
Sarath began his filmmaking career with documentaries, with art, culture and heritage forming a major part of his early work. His documentary The Painted Epics brought him considerable recognition, particularly after he discovered rare mural paintings associated with renowned artist Raja Ravi Varma. His research into Kerala's traditional mural art earned him a Junior Fellowship from the Department of Culture, Government of India, in 1996.
He made his independent feature-film debut with Sayahnam in 2000. The film received widespread critical appreciation and won seven Kerala State Film Awards. Sarath went on to establish a distinctive style of filmmaking through works dealing with social, environmental and human themes. His film Sthithi, which featured playback singer Unni Menon in the lead, portrayed the lives of a couple employed at the Government Secretariat.
Another notable work was the documentary short Bhoomikkoru Charamageetham, based on a poem by renowned Malayalam poet O N V Kurup. The film explored environmental concerns and feminine aesthetics and received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Short Film. Sarath's body of work earned him national, state and international recognition, including the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam for Sayahnam.
Sarath was a postgraduate in English Literature and had formal training in film production and journalism. He further developed his filmmaking skills while working under acclaimed director Shaji N Karun and also trained under Swiss filmmaker Markoos Imhoof.
Beyond feature filmmaking, Sarath held several important positions in Kerala's cultural and government sectors. He retired as Deputy Director of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Kerala government. He had earlier served as Director of MPCC and as Secretary of Bharat Bhavan under the Kerala State Cultural Department.
He was also associated with Geet Govinda, a major multimedia project in which he served as visual director. The project was a collaboration involving the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi and the multimedia design team at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the United States. Dr Kapila Vatsyayan wrote the script for the project in 1997.
Sarath also remained active in the international film circuit. He served as festival director of the International Union of Kerala Film Festivals in London in 2007 and was a jury member for the National Film Awards in 2011. In 2012, he served as chairman of the jury for the Kerala State Television Awards.
His filmmaking career extended across documentaries, short films and feature films, with his works earning nine international awards along with one National Film Award and four Kerala State Film Awards, according to Kerala Kaumudi.
Sarath's last directorial venture was Swayam, also known as Swayam: Selfless. His death marks the loss of a filmmaker who made a distinctive contribution to Malayalam cinema through socially relevant themes, documentary filmmaking and his work in Kerala's art and cultural heritage.