'''Adoor Gopalakrishnan''', (b. 1941)


Malayalam director born in Adoor, Kerala.
Stage début as actor aged 8. Graduated from
Gandhigram Rural University (1960) having
produced over 20 plays, including ones he
wrote himself. Notable among these was
Godothe Kathe, adapting Beckett’s Waiting For
Godot, with [[Gopi]]. Resigned from government
job and graduated from the [[FTII]] (1965).
Founder and president of the Chitralekha Film
Co-op in Trivandrum (1965), the first of its kind
in India, set up by FTII graduates as a
production-distribution centre for personal
films outside the commercial sector. In the mid-
70s, a laboratory was added to the Trivandrum
studio. Writes his own scripts, two of which
([[Elippathayam]] and [[Mukha Mukham]]) were
published in English by Seagull Books in
Calcutta (1985). Films show an emphasis on
psychology depicted through gesture (cf. [[S.
Ray]]). Theorised his approach in Cinemayude
Lokam (1983). The reformist dimension of his
work achieves an extra edge given the relative
absence of that tradition in Travancore’s
literature. Travancore’s delayed entry into the
nationalist mainstream and its sudden
transformation from a feudal state ruled by
Dewan C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyer into one run by
a CPI government, created a break in Kerala’s
history which animates his films: e.g. his
portrayal of the Nair community of former rent
collectors in Elippathayam and of the
Communist movement itself in Mukha
Mukham and [[Mathilukal]].


'''FILMOGRAPHY''': 1965: A Great Day (Sh);
1968: And Man Created (Doc); Danger At
Your Doorstep (Doc); 1969: Towards National
STD (Doc); 1972: Swayamvaram; 1974:
Guru Chengannur (Doc); 1975: Past in
Perspective (Doc); 1977: The Myth (Doc);
Kodiyettam; 1979: Yakshagana (Doc); 1980:
The Chola Heritage (Doc); 1981:
Elippathayam; 1982: Krishnattam (Doc);
1984: Mukha Mukham; 1987: Anantaram;
1989: Mathilukal; 1993: Vidheyan; 1995:
Kathapurushan.

[[Director]]