Shaji N.Karun Biography

Shaji Neelakantan Karun is an Indian film director and cinematographer.

Shaji was born on New Year Day in 1952 as the eldest son of Mr N Karunakaran and Mrs Chandramathi Kollam district in Kerala. The family moved to Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, in 1963. He did his schooling in Palkulangara H S and took a Bachelor's degree from the University college Thiruvananthapuram in 1971.

He entered the Film and Television Institute of India where he took his diploma in Cinematography. He won the President's medal on passing out in 1975. He married Anasuya Warrier on 1975 Jan 1. And in 1976 he got an appointment as a film officer in the newly formed state Film Development Corporation. Shaji worked with notable directors like G Aravindan, K G George and M T Vasudevan Nair as a cinematographer.

Career

Shaji made his directorial debut with the Malayalam film Pravi (The Birth 1988), which won him the prestigious camera award at the Cannes Film Festival. Pravi was about the grief of a father who loses his son. Shaji's second film was Swaham (1994) and the film was selected to compete at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

Vanaprastham (The Final Dance 1999) dealt with the identity crisis faced by an actor. Mohanlal played the lead role in this film. He directed the film Nishad made in Hindi, which was completed in May 2002, and premiered in the Fukuoka International Film Festival held in September 2002 in Japan.

He has also made around a dozen short films and documentaries. Besides making films, Shaji Karun has been active as a juror at many international film festivals and an active participant in the governmental and academic arenas. He was the premiere chairman of the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy, the first academy for film and TV and he was also the Executive Chairman of the International Film Festival of Kerala from 1998 to 2001.