Vattamparambil Krishnan Pavithran, known mononymously as Pavithran (1950–2006) was an

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

. He primarily concentrated on

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

films.

Career

After completing his graduation Pavithran made two unsuccessful attempts to get admission at the

Pune Film Institute 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 ...

. This failure made him join a Law College nearby the film institute at Pune. Instead of studying law, he spent his time in the Film Institute seeing world classics and how films were made. He used this opportunity to befriend the institute students and understand cinema closely. His friendship with director P. A. Backer led to the making of the film '' Kabani Nadi Chuvannappol'' (''When the River Kabani Turned Red'', 1975), which he produced. He made his directorial debut with '' Yaro Oral'' (''Someone'', 1978) for which

G. Aravindan Govindan Aravindan (23 January 1935 – 15 March 1991) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, musician, cartoonist, and painter. He was one of the pioneers of parallel cinema in Malayalam. He was known for his unorthodox way of filmma ...

composed the music. The film was about the travails of urban life and identity crisis in the city. It introduced to Malayalam a genre of personal cinema, which is deliberately anti-realist. This won state awards for Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. In 1981, he composed the music for T. V. Chandran's directorial debut ''

Krishnankutty ''Krishnankutty'' is a 1981 Malayalam film that marks the directorial debut of T. V. Chandran. The film started production during the emergency period. A critical and commercial failure, this experimental film did not even have a wide public r ...

''. Later he made a shift in his form of filmmaking with ''

Uppu ''Uppu'' ( ml, ഉപ്പ്, en, Salt, french: Le Sel) is a 1987 Indian Malayalam film, directed by V. K. Pavithran and written by K. M. A. Rahim. The film is about the atavistic Muslim practice of male polygamy. The film is entirely on t ...

'' (''Salt'', 1986), where he adopted the middle-stream cinema model. In ''Uppu'', he told the story of the atavistic Muslim practice of male polygamy. It became controversial upon release. In an interview, Pavithran commented, "Salt is a trifle better - the truth always is. The religious laws are almost unknowingly misused by people, leading to the exploitation of those who succumb or resign themselves to religious and social pressures. Our intention was not to victimise or ridicule a minority." ''Uppu'' won the National Film Award for Best Regional Film. In 1989, he directed '' Utharam'' which was written by

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 ...

and featured Mammootty in the lead role. The film is about the investigative journey that the protagonist embarks on in order to find the reasons behind a poet's suicide, a bizarre step she took despite her picture-perfect life. The film became a major commercial and critical success. It has earned cult status and is now regarded as one of the best investigative thriller films in Malayalam cinema. His last film ''Kuttappan Sakshi'' (''Kuttappan, the Witness'', 2002) begins in the pre-independence era when the communist movement was coming up in Kerala and inspiring poor peasants and other workers to raise their voice against the feudalism and the exploitation of the

Nampoothiris The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal el ...

Death

Pavithran died on 26 February 2006. He was married to Kalamandalam Kshemavathy, with whom he had two daughters, Eva, an actress in South Indian films, and Lakshmi.

Filmography

* Yaro Oral (1978) alayalam*

(1986) alayalam* Utharam (1989) alayalam* Bali (1991) alayalam* Kuttappan Sakshi (2002) alayalam

References

External links

*
Cinema of Malayalam profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavithran, V. K. Film directors from Thrissur Malayalam film directors 1950 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Indian people