Lijo Jose Pellissery (born 18 September 1978) is an Indian filmmaker and actor who works in

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, '' Elippathaya ...

. Known for his unconventional approach in directing, his films are characterized by nonlinear storylines and very long takes. His best works include ''

Angamaly Diaries ''Angamaly Diaries'' is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language crime drama film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by Chemban Vinod Jose. The film features 86 debutant actors, with Antony Varghese, Anna Rajan, Kichu Tellus, Ullas Jose Che ...

'' (2017), '' Jallikattu'' (2019) and ''

Churuli ''Churuli'' ( ml, ചുരുളി; ) is a 2021 Indian Malayalam-language science fiction horror film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by S. Hareesh, starring Vinay Forrt, Chemban Vinod Jose, Joju George, Soubin Shahir and Jaff ...

'' (2021). He is the son of actor

Jose Pellissery Jose Pellissery (1950 – 5 December 2004) was an Indian film and theatre actor. Biography As an actor in Malayalam cinema, he played supporting roles in about 100 films. His 15-year film career included roles in such movies as ''Aadhaaram'', ...

. He is a recipient of the Best Director Award at the

48th Kerala State Film Awards The 48th Kerala State Film Awards, presented by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy were announced by the Minister for Cultural Affairs, A. K. Balan in Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum ...

for '' Ee.Ma.Yau'', Best Director Award at the

50th Kerala State Film Awards The 51st Kerala State Film Awards, presented by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy were announced by the Minister for Cultural Affairs, A. K. Balan in Thiruvananthapuram on 13 October 2020. A total of 119 films competed for the awards. Wr ...

for '' Jallikattu'', Best Film Award at the 44th

Kerala Film Critics Association Awards 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 '' Jallikattu'' and twice recipient of Silver Peacock-Best Director at the

49th International Film Festival of India The 49th International Film Festival of India was a film festival held from 20 to 28 November 2018 in Goa. In the 49th event new sections such as "Sketch on Screen (Animation Film Package)", "A Retrospective of Masters" are inculcated. 212 fi ...

and

50th International Film Festival of India The 50th International Film Festival of India was held from 20 to 28 November 2019 in Goa. Russia is the country of focus with eight Russian language films being screened. Jury * John Bailey, Chairperson * Robin Campillo, French screenwrit ...

for his films '' Ee.Ma.Yau'' and '' Jallikattu'' respectively''.'' He also received the Silver Crow Pheasant Award at the

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

2018. Pellissery made his debut in 2010 with the crime film ''

Nayakan ''Nayakan'' (; ) is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language gangster film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Produced by Muktha Srinivasan, the film stars Kamal Haasan, Saranya (in her feature debut) and Karthika, with Janagaraj, Vijayan, M. V. Vasu ...

'' and followed it up with the crime-drama '' City of God'' (2011) and the black comedy satire ''

Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and ...

'' (2013), the last mentioned, a commercial success at the Kerala box office. His fourth film, ''

Double Barrel "Double Barrel" is a 1970 reggae single by Dave and Ansell Collins (though credited in both the UK and the U.S. to 'Dave and Ansil Collins'). It was the second reggae tune to top the UK charts, two years after Desmond Dekker's number 1 break ...

'', an experimental film received only mixed reviews. His fifth film was again a crime-gangster film ''

'' (2017), starring almost 90 new actors, which preceded Ee.Ma.Yau, released in 2018. His latest movie ''

Jallikkattu ''Jallikattu'' is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language independent film, independent action thriller film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery with a screenplay by S. Hareesh and R. Jayakumar, based on the short story ''Maoist'' by Hareesh. The film sta ...

'' premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2020, ''Jallikkattu'' was selected as India's official entry for Best International Feature Film at the

93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 202 ...

Early life

Pellissery was born on 18 September 1978 in

Chalakudy Chalakudy is a municipal town situated on the banks of Chalakudy River in Thrissur district of the Kerala state in India. It is the headquarters of Chalakudy taluk. It is the base camp for travellers to Athirappilly Falls and Vazhachal Fall ...

in Thrissur district of the south Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

to Lilly and

, a known film and theatre actor and a winner of a state award for best stage actor. His schooling was at Carmel Higher Secondary School, Chalakudy and, after graduating from the

Union Christian College, Aluva Union Christian College, Aluva (known as UC College) is a college affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. It is one of the earliest colleges in India to be established and managed by Indian Christians. It was founded in 1921 by four ...

, he earned a master's degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Plantation Management,

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Career

By the time Lijo Pellissery was born,

who co-owned a theatre group by ''Sarathy Theatres'', was active in Malayalam films and this gave the young Lijo an early grounding in films. His career started as an assistant to Manoj Pillai, an ad filmmaker, and Pellissery soon started making short films of his own. One of his films, ''3'', was one of three films shortlisted for the best film award at the PIX Short Film Festival 2007. He debuted as a feature film director in 2010 with ''

'', which narrated the story of a

Kathakali Kathakali ( ml, കഥകളി) is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up and costumes of the traditional male actor-dancers. It is native to the M ...

artist who joined the underworld to take revenge on those who killed his family. Though the film was critically acclaimed, it failed at the box office. His next venture, '' City of God'', one of the early ''New Generation'' films of Malayalam cinema and a multi-starrer featuring

Indrajith Sukumaran Indrajith Sukumaran (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Indrajith was born to the actors Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran and is the elder brother of Prithviraj Sukumaran. Indrajit ...

Prithviraj Sukumaran Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer primarily working in Malayalam cinema. He has also done Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. He acted in more than 100 films in a variety of ...

, Parvathy, Swetha Menon and

Rima Kallingal Rima Kallingal is an Indian actress and film producer who mainly appears in Malayalam films. She made her Malayalam film debut with '' Ritu'' (2009). She married to the Malayalam film director Aashiq Abu in 2013. Early Life and Career Born in T ...

used

hyperlink cinema Hyperlink cinema is a style of filmmaking characterised by complex or multilinear narrative structures with multiple characters under one unifying theme. History The term was coined by author Alissa Quart, who used the term in her review of the f ...

as its narrative structure and was a critical success but, again failed miserably at the box office; it was pulled from cinemas just days after its release. It took another two years before he came up with his third movie, ''

'', in 2013, which had

Fahad Fasil Fahadh Fazil (8 August 1982) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has appeared in few Tamil and Telugu films. He has acted in more than 50 films and has received several awards, including a Nati ...

Swathi Reddy Swathi Reddy (born 19 April 1987) is an Indian actress and television presenter who predominantly works in Telugu films, along with Tamil and Malayalam films. Her nickname ''Colours Swathi'' comes from her stint in the Telugu television show ' ...

and

Kalabhavan Mani Kunnisseri Veettil Raman Mani (1 January 1971 – 6 March 2016), better known by his stage name Kalabhavan Mani, was an Indian actor and singer. Mani started his career as a mimicry artist with the Kalabhavan comedy troupe. He had starred in ove ...

in the lead roles and the movie succeeded at the box office while drawing good critical response. After a gap of almost two years, Pellissery released his fourth film, ''

'', a comic thriller, with

Arya Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

Sunny Wayne Sujith Unnikrishnan (born 19 August 1983), known by his stage name Sunny Wayne is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He made his acting debut in '' Second Show'' (2012). Personal life Wayne was born to Unnikrishnan ...

and Asif Ali in the lead roles. However, the film did not succeed critically or commercially. The next project, ''

'', a black comedy cloaked in a gangster plot that revolves around the locale of

Angamaly Angamaly (''Aṅkamāli''), , Malayalam : അങ്കമാലി Situated about north of the city centre, the town lies at the intersection of Main Central Road (MC Road) and National Highway 544. MC Road, which starts from Thiruvanantha ...

, was scripted by popular actor,

Chemban Vinod Jose Chemban Vinod Jose is an Indian actor, film producer, and screenwriter, who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He is a physiotherapist by profession. The film, made on a small budget of million, was received well at the box office and drew critical acclaim;

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France awa ...

opined that ''Angamaly Diaries'' was his film of the year. '' Ee.Ma.Yau'', his next film based on a satire written by

P. F. Mathews Poovankery Francis Mathews is an Indian author of Malayalam literature and a screenplay writer in Malayalam film and Television industries. A Winner of a National Film Award for Best Screenplay and multiple State television and other literary a ...

and with his regular composer,

Prashant Pillai Prashant Pillai (born 8 September 1981) is a music producer and composer from India. Early career After completing his Sound engineering in Chennai, he went on to work with A.R.Rahman. After a short stint with him, he moved on and settled in ...

, scoring the music, was premiered on 30 November 2017 but the release was delayed due to undisclosed reasons. Before it was released on 4 May 2018, the film received the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Director The Kerala State Film Award for Best Director is an honour presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India since 1969. It is given to a film director who has exhibited outstanding direction while working in the Malayalam film industry. ...

at the

. The film also won him the ''Silver Peacock'' Award for the best director at the 49th

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 p ...

(IFFI), 2018, which was held in Goa in November 2018 (

Chemban Vinod Jose Chemban Vinod Jose is an Indian actor, film producer, and screenwriter, who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He is a physiotherapist by profession.) followed by the Sinema Zetu International Film Festival Award for Best Direction.

Filmmaking style

Pellissery often uses non-linear style of narrative and long takes. His early films had established actors in the lead roles but, ''

'' marked a change where almost the entire cast were newcomers with 86 new actors making their debut, and subsequently accomplishing a triumph in the form of a 11-minute long take, uninterrupted long take in the climax. Following the similar technique, '' Jallikattu'' has at least 6 long takes and have brought in over thousand extras for the climax sequence.

Early life

Career

Filmmaking style

Filmography

Awards

References

External links

Further reading