Geetu Mohandas

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Geetu Mohandas
Geetu Mohandas.jpg
Born
Gayatri Das

(1981-06-08) 8 June 1981 (age 42)
NationalityIndian
Other namesGeetu
OccupationActress, Film director
Years active1986 – present
Spouse(s)
(
m. 2009)
ChildrenAradhana
Awards

Gayatri Das (born 8 June 1981) known professionally as Geetu Mohandas is an Indian film actress and director known for her works in Malayalam cinema and Bollywood.[1] In 2013, she directed the socio political film Liar's Dice which has received two National Film Awards, was premiered at Sundance Film Festival,[2] and was chosen by the Government of India as India's entry for the U.S. 87th Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, but was not shortlisted or nominated.[3]

Career[edit]

As an actress[edit]

Geetu's actual name is Gayatri das.[4] Affectionately called Geetu by her family, the name was adopted as her screen name when she starred in her fourth movie Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare in 1986 with Mohanlal in the lead role. Geetu was five years old then and captured the hearts of Malayalam filmgoers as a fatherless child who discovers a father in an anonymous telephone caller.[5] She acted in the top grosser En Bommukutty Ammavukku as the title role, which was the Tamil remake of Fazil's Ente Mamattikkuttiyammakku (Malayalam) done by Baby Shalini in the title role.[6] Geetu's first movie as an adult was Life is Beautiful starring Mohanlal in the lead. She went on to act in Thenkasi Pattanam, Valkannadi, Nammal Thammil and several other Malayalam movies. The high point of her career was Akale directed by Shyamaprasad, and produced by Tom George Kolath which won her the Kerala State Award for Best Actress in 2004. Geetu also won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam, for her role as Rose, in Akale.

As director[edit]

Geetu Mohandas formed her film production house- Unplugged in 2009 which produced her directorial debut short fiction film titled Kelkkunnundo Are you listening. The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and subsequently won 3 International awards for Best Short fiction as well as the National Film Award in India. The film has been included as a chapter in the 12th standard Kerala state syllabus since 2014. Her first feature film Liar's Dice (film) received the Hubert Bals fund for script and project development and the film was selected in Competition for the world dramatic competition at Sundance Film Festival in 2014. Liar's Dice (film) went on to win six major international awards across the world and two National awards in India. It was also India's official entry for the Best Foreign Film category for the 87th Academy Awards.[7] Her second feature film, Moothon was mentored by the Sundance film lab and Geetu also won the Global film maker award at Sundance Film Festival in 2016. Moothon had its World premiere at Toronto International film festival in 2019 and was the opening film at MAMI 2019.[8][9]

Personal life[edit]

She was born as Gayatri Das to Mohandas and Latha on 8 June 1981 at Kochi. Studied in India, Malaysia and Canada. She has a brother, Dr. Arjun Das, nephrologist, living in US.[10] On 14 November 2009, she married cinematographer Rajeev Ravi.[11] The wedding took place at night in Kochi, Kerala, India.The couple have a daughter, Aradhana.

Awards[edit]

As director[edit]

International Film Festival of India

  • 2009 – IFFI Golden Lamp Tree Award for Best Film and Director – Kelkkunnundo Film Chamber of Commerce

International Awards

Mumbai International Film Festival

  • 2010 – Jury Award – Kelkkunnundo

Awards for Moothon[edit]

  • 2020- 3 awards at NYIFF for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Child Actor[12][13]
  • 2020- 3 awards at NYIFF for Best Supporting Actor for Shashank Arora, Best Child Actor for Sanjana Dipu,Best Screenplay for Geetu Mohandas
  • 2020- 2 awards at INDO - GERMAN FILM WEEK 2020 for Audience Choice Award, Best Supporting Actor for Roshan Mathew[14]
  • 2020- 2 awards at Iat NEWYORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL for 4 nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Child Actor 2020
  • 2020- won the Best Film and Jury Prize at the prestigious Festival du Film d'Asie du Sud - FFAST in Paris[15]

Festivals for Moothon[edit]

  • 2020- selected to the 18th ANNUAL IFFLA at Los Angeles, California[16]
  • 2020- screened at London Indian Film Festival and Birmingham Indian Film Festival.
  • 2020- premiered at 43rd GOTEBORG FILM FESTIVAL 2020 In Sweden[17]
  • 2020-24th edition of International Film Festival of Kerala - IFFK

Awards for Liar's Dice[edit]

As Actress[edit]

Kerala State Film Awards
Filmfare Awards South
Asianet Film Awards
  • 2004-Special Jury Mention – Akale
Kerala Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2001- Best Actress – Shesham
  • 2004- Special Jury Award – Akale
Mathrubhumi, Medimix film
  • 2004-Best character Actress – Akale
Ramu Karyat award
  • 2020- Promising director Award -Moothon

Filmography[edit]

As an actress[edit]

Year Film Role Notes
1986 Onnu Muthal Poojaym Vare Deepa Mol Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist
1986 Sayam Sandhya Vinu Mol
1986 Veendum Anu
1986 Rareeram Geethu
1988 En Bommukutty Ammavukku Tinnu Tamil film
2000 Life Is Beautiful Bala
2000 Thenkasipattanam Sangeetha
2001 Kannaki Kumudam
2002 Kakke Kakke Koodevide Sudharma
2002 Pakalppooram Seemandini / Ghost
2002 Krishna Gopalakrishna Gayathri
2002 Sesham Meera
2002 Valkannadi Devu
2003 Sahodharan Sahadevan Arathi
2003 Shingari Bolona Maya
2003 Nala Damayanthi Damayanthi Tamil film
2003 Choonda Mohini Varma/Archana
2003 Mullavalliyum Thenmavum Eva Cherian
2004 Oridam No name in the movie
2004 Thudakkam Karthika
2004 Akale Rose Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress
Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam
2005 Ullam Radha
2005 Pauran Annie
2005 Rappakal Malavika Varma
2006 Kisan Ammu/Ambili Varma
2006 Poi Ramya Tamil film
2006 Arunam Seetha
2006 Mouryan Unknown
2007 Bharathan Effect Geetha
2007 Thakarachenda Latha
2007 Naalu Pennungal Kumari
The Virgin
aka Four Women (Canada: English title: festival title)
2008 Akasha Gopuram Catherine Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Malayalam
2009 Seetha Kalyanam Abhirami
2009 Nammal Thammil Anu

As director[edit]

Year Film Language Notes
2009 Kelkkunnundo Malayalam Short Film
2014 Liar's Dice Hindi Special Jury award at the 18th Sofia International Film Festival
Received two National Film Awards
2019 Moothon Malayalam

Hindi

Global filmmaking award for story in Sundance film festival 2016


References[edit]

  1. Geetu Mohandas
  2. "Nawazuddin's Liar's Dice in Sundance Film Festival". Starblockbuster. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  3. Gitanjali Roy (23 September 2014). "India will send Hindi-language road film Liar's Dice to the Oscars next year, the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced today". Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  4. "I, Me, Myself – Geethu Mohandas". The Hindu. 4 July 2003. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  5. Shobha Warrier (11 February 2003). "Geetu Mohandas is Damayanthi". Rediff.com. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  6. "In the big league". The Hindu. 12 June 2003. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  7. Liar's Dice wins Special Jury award at Sofia International Film Festival Archived 21 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  8. "'This Is The Bronze Age Of Malayalam Cinema. I Won't Call It The Golden Age. We Are Not There Yet': Geetu Mohandas". Silverscreen.in. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  9. "Moothon, Geetu Mohandas' Malayalam action thriller, will open 21st edition of MAMI Mumbai Film Festival-Entertainment News , Firstpost". 13 August 2019.
  10. http://cinidiary.com/people.php?pigsection=Actor&picata=2&no_of_displayed_rows=8&no_of_rows_page=10&sletter= Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  11. "ഗീതു മോഹന്‍ദാസ്‌ വിവാഹിതയായി" Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  12. "Moothon Wins Awards for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Child Artist in New York Indian Film Festival - Zee5 News". 5 August 2020.
  13. "Moothon wins three awards at Cincinnati Indian Film Festival 2020". The Times of India.
  14. "'Moothon' Wins Two Awards at Indo-German Film Week in Berlin". 3 October 2020.
  15. Mathews, Anna. "Moothon wins at FFAST, Paris". The Times of India.
  16. "18th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles". 21 February 2020.
  17. "Geetu Mohandas-directed 'Moothon' wins Best Film at film festival in Paris". 4 February 2020.

External links[edit]

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