John Sankaramangalam ( ml, ജോൺ ശങ്കരമംഗലം,, link=yes ; 16 July 1934 – 30 July 2018) was an Indian filmmaker and former director of the
FTII, Pune
The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...
St. Joseph College of Communication
St Joseph College of Communication, Changanassery (SJCC), is the first university affiliated media college in South India. It is a Christian minority self-financing education institution affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, ...
and as a jury member of the
International Film Festival of India
The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...
National Film Award
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate ...
Eraviperoor
Eraviperoor is a village in Thiruvalla Taluk,Pathanamthitta district in the state of Kerala . Eraviperoor is the part of Thiruvalla Taluk in east location and is part of the Aranmula legislative assembly constituency.It Comes Under Thiruvalla ...
of
Pathanamthitta
Pathanamthitta (), is a municipality situated in the Central Travancore region in the state of Kerala, India, spread over an area of 23.50 km2. It is the administrative capital of Pathanamthitta district. The town has a population of 37 ...
district. He was the son of Thaiparambil Sankaramangalam T.O. Chacko and Annamma. After completing his schooling from St. John's School, Eraviperoor, he joined St. Berchmans College, Changanassery and later MCC for higher studies.
Film career
Sankaramangalam became a teacher at the age of 19 at MCC. Later he quit the job and joined FTII in 1962. He obtained a diploma in film direction and script writing from FTII. Veteran filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan was his classmate.
He entered the film industry by writing the screenplay for the Tamil film ''Jayasree''. His first directorial venture was '' Janmabhoomi'' which was released in 1969. The film won the Nargis Dutt Award and Kerala State Film Award. In 1977, he directed ''Samadhi'', a documentary film about
B. K. S. Iyengar
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga guru ...
to help a cinematography student. The film won him Rajat Kamal for Best Experimental Film at
25th National Film Awards
The 25th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1977. Ceremony took place on 27 ...
.
In 2003, he won the ''Chalachitra Prathibha'' award from
Kerala Film Critics Association
The Kerala Film Critics Association Awards are presented annually by the Kerala Film Critics Association to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Malayalam language film industry of India. The awards were instit ...
for his contribution to Malayalam cinema as a director.
Death
Sankaramangalam died on July 30, 2018, due to age-related illness.