Adoor Gopalakrishnan

In this Indian name, the toponymic surname is Adoor. It is not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Gopalakrishnan.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Born
Mouttathu Gopalakrishnan Unnithan

(1941-07-03) 3 July 1941 (age 83)
Mannadi, Adoor, Pathanamthitta district, Travancore, British India
(present day Adoor, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, India)
Other namesAdoor
Alma materFilm and Television Institute of India[1]
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • film producer
Years active1965–present
Spouse
Sunanda
​
(died 2015)​
Children1
Awards
Websiteadoorgopalakrishnan.com

Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film Swayamvaram (1972), Gopalakrishnan pioneered the new wave in Malayalam cinema during the 1970s.[2] In a career spanning over five decades, Gopalakrishnan has made only 12 feature films to date. His films are made in the Malayalam language and often depict the society and culture of his native state Kerala. Nearly all of his films premiered at Venice, Cannes and Toronto International Film Festival. Along with Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, Gopalakrishnan is one of the most recognized Indian film directors in world cinema.[3][4]

For his films, Gopalakrishnan has won the National Film Award 16 times, next only to Ray and Sen. He also won the Kerala State Film Awards 17 times. He was awarded the State honours Padma Shri in 1984 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2006. He received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2004 for his valuable contributions to Indian cinema.[5] In 2016, he was awarded the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have established an archive and research center, the Adoor Gopalakrishnan Film Archive and Research Center, at their Peck School of Arts where research students will have access to 35 mm prints of the eleven feature films and several documentaries made by Gopalakrishnan.[6]

  1. ^ "Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) keen to go global, train foreign actors & technicians - Times of India". The Times of India. 25 February 2018. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Golden rigmaroles: Adoor Gopalakrishnan on the Malayalam screen". Deccan Chronicle. 31 July 2016. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Adoor Gopalakrishnan". IMDb. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Biography, Movies, & Facts". Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Adoor selected for Phalke award". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 6 September 2005. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  6. ^ Attipetty, Peter (6 May 2013). "Milwaukee chose me: Adoor Gopalakrishnan". The American Bazaar. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.