Lenin Rajendran (1951 – 14 January 2019) was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked in Malayalam cinema. He served as the Chairman of Kerala State Film Development Corporation from 2016 to January 2019.
Career Beginning his film-making career as an assistant to director P. A. Backer, Rajendran made his directorial debut with Venal (1982). Although Rajendran mainly worked in independent and serious cinema, his films retained elements of mainstream film production. His works, the last of which was the film Edavappathy (2016), are distinguished by the absence of traditional happy endings.
An active member of the Communist party, Rajendran at times integrated his political orientation into his screen work: his 1985 film Meenamasithile Sooryan was about the anti-feudal upheaval of the 1940s in Kerala from a Communist viewpoint. As a CPI(M) nominee, he contested against Shri K. R. Narayanan in Ottapalam in both the 1989 and 1991 Lok Sabha elections.
Swathi Thirunal (1987), a period film was a biographical work of a 19th-century king of Travancore, better known as a musical composer. While Daivathinte Vikrithikal (1992) was the cinematic adaptation of M. Mukundan's novel of the same name, Kulam (1997) was a loose adaptation of C. V. Raman Pillai's historical novel Marthandavarma, Mazha (2001) was adapted from Madhavikutty's Nashtapetta Neelambhari. One of his other films, Anyar (2003) deals with the hot topic of communal polarisation in Kerala.
His other films are Prem Nazirine Kanmanilla (1983), Puravrutham (1988), and Vachanam (1989).
Не was the chairman of Kerala State Film Development Corporation.
Death Lenin Rajendran died on 14 January 2019 in Apollo Hospital Chennai after a liver transplant, at the age of 67. His body was taken back to his native place, and was cremated with full state honours. He is survived by his wife Dr. Ramani, son Gouthaman and daughter Parvathi.
Awards
Kerala State Film Awards 1987 - Kerala State Film Award (Special Jury Award): Swathi Thirunal (film) 1992 - Kerala State Film Award for Best Film: Daivathinte Vikrithikal 1996 - Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value : Kulam 2006 - Kerala State Film Award for Best Director : Rathri Mazha 2010 - Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Film:Makaramanju
International Film Festival of Kerala 2010 - FIPRESCI Prize for Best Malayalam Film - Makaramanju
Kerala State Television Awards 1999 - Second Best Teleserial: Balyakalasmaranakal 2011 - Best Documentary (Biography): Kaviyoor Revamma
Kerala Film Critics Award 2003 - Special Jury Award : Anyar 2006 - Second Best Film : Rathri Mazha 2010 - Second Best Film : Makaramanju 2016 - Best Screenplay : Edavappathy
Filmography
Year Title Cast 1981 Venal Sukumaran, Jalaja 1982 Chillu Venu Nagavalli, Shanthi Krishna 1983 Prem Nazirine Kanmanilla Prem Nazir, Sreenivasan, Maniyanpilla Raju, Vijay Menon 1985 Meenamasathile Sooryan Bharath Gopi, Venu Nagavalli, Vijay Menon, Murali, Ravi, Shobana 1985 Mazhakkala Megham 1987 Swathi Thirunal Anant Nag, Ranjini 1988 Puravrutham Om Puri 1989 Vachanam Suresh Gopi, Jayaram, Sithara, Sreevidya, Thilakan, Mamukkoya 1992 Daivathinte Vikrithikal Raghuvaran, Srividya, Thilakan, Vineeth, Sudheesh, Siddique 1997 Kulam Suresh Gopi, Bhanupriya, Vijayaraghavan 2000 Mazha Biju Menon, Lal, Samyuktha Varma, Jagathy Sreekumar, Thilakan, Urmila Unni 2003 Anyar Jyothirmayi, Biju Menon, Lal, Siddique 2007 Rathri Mazha Vineeth, Meera Jasmine, Manoj K. Jayan, Biju Menon, Lalu Alex, Cochin Haneefa 2010 Makaramanju Santosh Sivan, Karthika Nair, Nithya Menon, Lakshmi Sarma 2016 Edavappathy Utthara Unni, Manisha Koirala, Siddhartha 2017 Crossroad Segment - Pinpe Nadappaval Anjana Chandran, Joy Mathew, Sagar
References
External links