Prolific is a word that film-producer and cinematographer Shaji N. Karun will not be associated with Karun, who died in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday at the age of 73 after a long fight with cancer. When he was active in cinema in five decades, he has made only six films and has done cinematography for 30 to 30 films. But, almost every time he crank the camera, the soul -souls were born, deeply stories were told and the films won the world stage.
Yes. In Arvindan Sita (1977), one of his first major functions as a cinematographer, he had to speak images, because there were hardly any lines for the characters. It was the beginning of a fruitful partnership, which reached its peak Kummetti (1979), in which Shaji captured the innocence of childhood and village life in rich color straps. Recent restoration of Kummetti By the World Cinema Project of the Film Foundation, a program formed by filmmaker Martin Scorsce, became a testimony to the timelessness of those images. Aravindon Estapan (1979) also had some magical images.
With KG George
Most of his best works as a cinematographer were independent and middle of the road cinema, who raised Malayalam cinema in the 1980s. He also made a memorable partnership with KG George, especially in capturing the complex bridge collapse sequence Panchavadippalam (1984) and painting the dark underbelle of the film industry Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback (1983). Shaji shot Mount Vasudevan Nair Punch And Padmarajan Quadevid as well as Arata Ketia GramthilWith Venu.
Darkness of ‘Pirvi’
After more than a decade as a cinematographer, he started with his direction Pirvi (1988), a moving depiction of the real -life story of a father’s discovery for his son who was illegally detained by the police and later murdered during the Emergency. Although the filmmaker later denied engineering student Rajan’s real -life story, the film is still counted among the best cinematic depictions of the Emergency. Pirvi Along with Malayalam, he became a landmark for Indian cinema, who won the Camera D’Or in Cannes and the Silver Leopard Award at Locarno International Film Festival.
Skeptical
A deep sense of grief lasted as a common theme through most of his films. Swaham (197), her second film was saddened to the loss of a young man, a young and sister, who goes to military recruitment to protect the family from poverty. The film was selected for the Palme D’Or competition in the Cannes Film Festival 1994. Shaji made a hat -trick in the ear when Vanaprasthham (1999) was selected to compete in a certain relationship section of the United Nations in the ear. He inspired Mohanlal to bring out one of his biggest demonstrations, as as a backward caste Kathakali artist, whose art is pushed into deep areas, forced by tests faced in life.
National award winner Kutti Srik His post -work Savpanam (2013) and Olu (2018) did not enough to manage touching the heights obtained by his first four films.
His achievements are important as a filmmaker and cinematographer, he contributes as an institution builder for the Malayalam film industry. Along with film critic VK Joseph, he designed the draft model for the Kerala State Chalchitra Academy in late 1998, the first such government initiative in any state in India. He helped the academy during his early years, when he also played an important role in organizing the first few versions of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). At the time of passing, he was halling Kerala State Film Development Corporation for six years. She faced controversies after women filmmakers and people from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes faced criticisms for the way the government handle the project to promote films.
His last public appearance JC. The Daniel Award was to receive a lifetime contribution to the Cinema for honor of the Government of Kerala in the capital two weeks ago. In a way, it was a suitable closing to a dedicated life to cinema.
Published – April 28, 2025 08:37 pm IST
