P. S. Vinothraj (born 18 June 1988) is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

film director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed the critically-acclaimed Tamil film, '' Pebbles'' (''Koozhangal'') which is also his debut film. ''Pebbles'' was screened at the

50th International Film Festival Rotterdam The 50th International Film Festival Rotterdam, was the 2021 installment of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which took place on 1–7 February 2021 and 2–6 June 2021. The first part of the edition focused on the main Tiger, Big Scree ...

held in

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 4 February 2021, where it received the

Tiger Award The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

at the festival. It is the second Indian film to win this prestigious award. It was selected as the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the

94th Academy Awards The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after its u ...

, but was not nominated.

Early life

P. S. Vinothraj was born on 18 June 1988 in

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

, Tamil Nadu. Vinothraj's father, Palani, died when Vinothraj was nine. He had to drop out of school and work in the flower markets of Madurai as a daily wage labourer carrying heavy bundles of flowers. He went to

Tiruppur Tiruppur or Tirupur ( ) is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tiruppur is the administrative headquarters of Tiruppur district and the fifth largest city as well as an urban agglomeration in Tamil Nadu. Located on the banks of Noyyal Ri ...

at the age of 14 to work there in one of the town's textile factories. He joined a tutorial college and studied there for a couple of years. Eventually, seeing his fellow co-workers have their lives destroyed, he decided to leave the place at the age of 19 and go to

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and work in cinema.

Film career

Vinothraj was fascinated with cinema after seeing a film shooting when he was a child. In Chennai he got a job as an employee at a DVD shop. He worked there for five years and during that time he used to talk to various film directors and assistant directors and others working in cinema. He watched a lot of films, especially foreign films. He doesn't understand English and could not understand the subtitles in foreign language films, so eventually, he started watching visually-striking films that he could understand without subtitles. He got work as an assistant director in some short films in the Nalaiya Iyakkunar TV Program using the contacts he got from working in the DVD shop. Later, he met

A. Sarkunam A. Sarkunam is an Indian film director, working in the Tamil film industry. He worked as an associate with director A.L Vijay. Career Sarkunam made his directorial debut with the romantic comedy ''Kalavani'' (2009). Featuring Vimal and Oviya i ...

, the Tamil film director whose films include ''Kalavani'' and ''Vaagai Sooda Vaa''. He then went on to work as an assistant director in the Tamil feature film ''

Manjapai ''Manjapai'' (''Yellow Bag'') is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film written and directed by N. Ragavan. Produced by Thirupathi Brothers and A Sarkunam Cinemaz. it stars Vimal, Rajkiran and Lakshmi Menon. The film saw its worldwid ...

'' (2013), directed by Raghavan and produced by Sarkunam. After working in that film, he felt he needed to learn more and so, he joined the post-modernistic theatre troupe Manal Magudi and worked there as an assistant director for two years. Vinothraj made a short film, ''Subway'', at this time on a shoe-string budget. The idea for ''Pebbles'' was based on what his sister told him about her treatment by her husband. Her family could not pay a

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

, so her husband threw her out and she had to walk almost 13 kilometres to her mother's house. The film was produced by Learn and Teach Productions. Vinothraj, along with his team, shot the film in around 37 days in the peak hours of sunlight during the noon as he wanted to capture the heat of the landscape.

Early life

Film career

Filmography

Awards and honours

References

External links