Biju Viswanath is an Indian

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. Across various genres, he has made numerous films in different languages, notably, English, Tamil, Malayalam, Irish, Swahili & Urdu. He has also served as the jury member 50th National film Awards of India in 2003 and Kerala State Awards in 2003

Career

Viswanath's directorial debut ''A Voyage'' is based on the works of Indian writer

M. T. Vasudevan Nair Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...

, which was produced by veteran Malayalam screenwriter

John Paul Puthusery John Paul (29 October 1950 – 23 April 2022) was an Indian scriptwriter, producer, author and actor who worked in Malayalam cinema. He is best known for his work in 1980s and early 1990s. Early life John Paul was born in Ernakulam as the onl ...

. The movie premiered in

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festi ...

, and won the gold medal for Best Short Film in India as well as an Honourable Mention in

Zanzibar International Film Festival The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), also known as Festival of the Dhow Countries, is an annual film festival held in Zanzibar, Tanzania and one of the largest cultural events in East Africa. ZIFF is a non-governmental organization esta ...

. His Urdu film ''Parwaaz'' (The Flight) won Special Prize in Patras Film Festival. Viswanath won two awards for Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay in New York Independent Film Festival for his feature film ''Marathon'' (2010). His English feature film ''Déjàvu,'' which was produced by editor

A. Sreekar Prasad Akkineni Sreekar Prasad is an Indian film editor. He works predominantly in Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi language films. In a career spanning more than 35 years, he has edited over 600 films. He is a recipient of nine National Film Awards ...

, featuring various British actors, had its international premiere at Busan International Film Festival in 2001 and at the 54th

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

. Another feature film of his,''Viola,'' won Golden palm in the Mexico International Film festival.Mexico International Film Festival and Awards
Retrieved 2017-12-30. Viswanath made three Irish films based on the works on the poet writer Celia de friene. His First American Feature film ''Marathon'' is based on the true story of American poet

William Morris Meredith, Jr. William Morris Meredith Jr. (January 9, 1919 – May 30, 2007) was an American poet and educator. He was Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1978 to 1980. Biography Early years Meredith was born in New York Cit ...

Viswanath won two awards for Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay in New York Independent Film Festival for ''Marathon'' (2010). Viswanath's venture in Swahili is ''Shadow Tree,'' a film which was shot in

Zanzibar, Tanzania Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular Autonomous administrative division, semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika (1961–1964), Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an Zanzibar Archipelago, archipelago in t ...

. The film won the Special Award in Skepto Film Festival in Italy, His Indian feature film ''

Orange Mittai ''Orange Mittai'' (Orange Candy) is a 2015 Indian Tamil language comedy film co-written and directed by Biju Viswanath. Produced by actor Vijay Sethupathi, the film stars him alongside Ramesh Thilak, Aashritha, Arumughan Bala and Karunakaran. ...

'' Tamil was co-written and produced by

Vijay Sethupathi Vijaya Gurunatha Sethupathi (born 16 January 1978), known professionally as Vijay Sethupathi, is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Tamil films. He is a recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award. Fo ...

. Another Tamil drama film ''

Chennai Palani Mars ''Chennai Palani Mars'' is a 2019 Indian Tamil black comedy-drama film co-written, co-produced and directed by Biju Viswanath. The film is also co-written and co-produced by Vijay Sethupathi under his own Vijay Sethupathi Productions, production ...

'' won two awards in USA: Grand jury prize in Los Angeles Motion Picture film festival and Best narrative feature in Pinnacle film Awards.

Filmography

Awards

* 2009: Best Cinematography at New York City International Film Festival: ''Marathon'' * 2011: Golden Palm Award at

Mexico International Film Festival Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

: ''Viola'' * 2014: SIGNIS Award for Best Short Film at

and Avant-guarde & Experimental Special Award at Skepto Film Festival: ''Shadow Tree'' * 2019: Gold Award for Best Feature Film at Pinnacle Film Awards: ''Chennai Palani Mars'' * 2022: Best of Show and Best Feature Documentary at Pinnacle Film Awards: ''How to make F**ked Up Movies''

References

External links

* * * https://www.deccanchronicle.com/150802/entertainment-mollywood/article/i-don%E2%80%99t-make-films-film-festivals-biju-viswanath * https://www.nowrunning.com/news/malayalam/raghuvaran-could-have-become-an-international-star-biju-viswanath/14518/story.htm * https://www.theindiapost.com/nation/chandigarh/popularizing-literature-cinema-biju-viswanath/ * https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/cinema-in-write-direction/story-0z6qITdR25mqYM6v3G9AOO.html * https://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-director/biju-viswanath/orange-mittai-director-biju-viswanaths-interview-on-the-film-vijay-sethupathi-and-many-more.html * https://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130303/ttlife1.htm#2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Viswanath, Biju English-language film directors Living people Malayalam film directors Malayalam film cinematographers Indian male screenwriters Year of birth missing (living people)