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Ramchandra PN | |
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| Born | 1965 (age 58–59) Udupi, Karnataka |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, producer and screenwriter |
| Spouse | Sushma PN |
| Website | sonkfilms |
Ramchandra P. N. is a filmmaker making feature films, short films, documentaries and TV programs. in India. He is a Tuluva based in Mumbai.
Ramchandra Perampalli Neckar [1] was born in the town of Udupi in the erstwhile undivided Dakshina Kannada District (now Udupi District) in the coastal area of the state of Karnataka in southern India, in 1965. His father worked in the Life Insurance Corporation of India; his mother was a housewife. Ramchandra PN completed his education in various schools and colleges in Kota, Kundapura, Mumbai, Manipal, Dharwad and Udupi. He is a commerce graduate from Mangalore University.
Ramchandra PN's initial foray into the arts got kindled during his college days in Poornaprajna College, Udupi. After unsuccessful attempts at learning disciplines as varied as the guitar, drawing and the traditional performing art of Yakshagana, he got involved in theatre as an actor as well as a back stage worker in various plays directed by Kannada theatre directors from Coastal Karnataka like B. R. Nagesh, Udyavara Madhava Acharya, Ramdas and R. L. Bhat. Meanwhile, he horned his still photography skills, thanks to a Pentax still camera donated to him by his uncle. He then attuned his creative instincts by attending various theatre workshops conducted by renowned Kannada theatre personalities like Chidambar Rao Jambe and Gangadhar Swamy. For a couple of years, he along with his friends led by theatre activist Udyavara Nagesh Kumar founded a mime troupe that performed in various festival celebrations, in and around the town of Udupi.
But Ramchandra PN's real calling was films. He was an active member of the now-defunct Chitra Samudaya, a Film society that was active in Udupi whose secretary owned a 16 mm projector. By the time he was in his twenties he had already seen classics like The Seventh Seal, Bicycle Thieves, Pather Panchali, Rashomon and Ghatashraddha. At the age of nineteen, he along with his cousin and their friends made a short film called Happy Birthday with a VHS camera loaned by a friend whose father worked in the Middle East. Since they had no editing facilities then, they shot the film in the editing order.
Ramchandra PN's growing interests in films took him to Mangalore, Heggodu and Bengaluru where he attended various film appreciation courses conducted by the likes of K. V. Subbanna, Satish Bahadhur, P.K. Nair, Nirad Mahapatra, Hariharan, Girish Kasaravalli and Abdul Rehaman Pasha. Finally, in 1987 dropping out from his Law and Charted Accounting studies, he joined the Film and Television Institute of India, Poona to do a three-year course in Film Direction and Screenplay Writing. His diploma film Gotala was screened in the then Bombay Short and Documentary Film Festival, held in the early 1990s.
After graduating from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Ramchandra PN thought he would settle down in Bengaluru, the capital of his home state Karnataka. Thanks to a cousin, he sneaked into the mainstream Kannada film industry and worked in the Kannada super star Vishnuvardhan's bilingual film called Police Dada; where he was the 8th assistant to the Hindi film directors Ramsay brothers. But after a schedule of filming, Ramchandra PN found out that commercial mainstream cinema was not his cup of tea.
He came to Mumbai in 1991 and got himself involved in the Television serial Surabhi a cultural show that was experimenting with the TV magazine format, produced by anchor Siddharth Kak. Over the next ten years, as a freelancer, he directed more than hundred short documentaries for this cultural show, subjects mainly pertaining to his home state of Karnataka – on Gangubai Hanagal, Mallikarjun Mansur, Shivaram Karanth, B.V. Karanth, Vijaynath Shenoy's Hastha Shilpa, the Hampi Ruins, the Hoysala Temples, Mysore Ganjifa, the professional stage actresses of Mariyammanahalli, cock fights, the Electronic tampura, the Lokur Joint family in North Karnataka, the Coastal Buffalo race of Kambala among others.
Ramchandra PN has been residing in Mumbai since 1990. Over the years he gradually ventured into other TV programs, feature films, documentaries and short films in English, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Kutchhi and Tulu languages.
Ten years into doing television, Ramchandra PN found himself in the crossroads of his career for he had not yet made his feature film – the very purpose for which he joined FTII in the first place. Taking advantage of the newly developing digital technology, in the year 2004, with the help of his assistant Surendra Kumar Marnad and friend Mohan Marnad he ventured in producing and directing the first digital feature film in Tulu language called Suddha (The Cleansing Rites). This no-cost film went on to win the Best Indian Film at the 2006 Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab films that was held in New Delhi. In 2007 it won a modest exhibition Grant from the Hubart Balls fund under which Ramchandra PN went around with a mobile projector, a portable screen and a sound system to screen the film in more than 100 places in the remote villages of the Tulu-speaking districts of Coastal Karnataka.
In 2008, he shot his second feature Putaani Party (The Kid Gang) – this time in Kannada language and in the district of Dharwad in North Karnataka. This film was produced by The Children's Film Society of India. This film won the Best Children's film at the 2009 National Film Awards.
Ramchandra PN has completed his third feature Haal E Kangaal , in Hindi language and is screening it in alternative venues all over India. [2]
Besides, he also conducts academic workshops in various film schools in India like the FTII, Poona & L. V. Prasad Film Institute, Chennai.
The Bangalore edition of the newspaper 'The Hindu had described the film Suddha – The Cleansing Ritesas follows.
"The allure of the 105-minute Tulu film is mainly due to its impressive technical accomplishments. Camerawork by Sameer Mahajan uses light and shade superbly and captures the mood and feel of the story. The interiors of the typical rural house – with peeling walls and old-world appendages – which stand as mute witness of the breaking family have been shot with care and sensitivity."
(Source: The Hindu) [5]
| Year | Title | Cast | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Bunnu K. Endo Maye (The Maya of Bunnu K. Endo) [6] | Chitrra Jetliy, Vinnay Vishwaa | Kannada, Hindi |
| 2015 | Haal E Kangaal (The Bankrupts) [7] | Niraj Sah, Hemant Mahaur | Hindi |
| 2009 | Putaani Party – The Kid Gang | Ranjita Jadhav, Sharad Anchatgiri, Pavan Hanchinaal, Jayalakshmi Patil, Bhavani Prakash | Kannada |
| 2005 | Suddha – The Cleansing Rites | Subhash Padivaal, Sai Prakash, Asha Marnad | Tulu |
| Year | Title | Cast | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Double Life [8] | Saumesh Bangera, Aneesh Pandelu, Ratika Kamath, Santosh Shetty | Hindi |
| 2015 | Tiku Tiku Director (The fragile director) | Vidhan Kothari, Satvika Khandgaonkar, Samridh Tandon, Sharman Gupta | Hindi |
| 2012 | Khana Khazaana (The treasure meal) | Resh Lamba, Vikas Shukla, Khusboo Upadhaya, Anurag | Hindi |
| 2011 | Mister and Mistress | Bijaya Jena, Niraj Sah, Seema Bora, Reema Das | Hindi |
| 2008 | Babe se date (Date with a babe) | Kunal Khotari, Sagarika Sawhney, Nikhila Nanduri | Hinglish |
| 2006 | Mani Bhai Pass Hogaye? (Did brother Mani succeed?) | Sudhir Choudhary, Rasika Duggal, Shinjini Raval, Oroshikha Day | Hindi |
| 2004 | Out of Tune | Anil Pande | Hinglish |
| 2003 | Heart Troubles of Ramchand Yavathmal Tiruchinapalli Azamghar | Anil Pande | Hinglish |
| 1991 | The Hot Shot | Vinay Edekar, Manisha Kamath | Only music |
| Year | Title | Producer | Length | Language | About |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | The Unbearable Being of Lightness [9] | Sonk Films | 45 mins | English | Dalit Issues |
| 2015 | Lohit Diary [10] | Films Division | 75 mins | Hindi/English/& 16 other dialects | Life in Lohit Valley in Arunachal Pradesh |
| 2013 | Gudigeri Company [11] | Sonk Films | 25 mins | Kannada | Live in a professional Theater troupe |
| 2012 | BV Karanth:Baba [12] [13] | Films Division | 93 mins | Hindi/English/Kannada | Biography of BV Karanth |
| 2012 | Rice and Rasam (Anna Saaru) [14] | P.S.B.T.-FD | 52 mins | Kannada | Professional theatre troupes in Karnataka |
| 2012 | A Pinch of Salt | Films Division | 52 mins | Gujarati/English | Education among the Agaria community children |
| 2011 | Miyar House [15] | Sonk Films | 76 mins | Kannada/English | dismantling of a century old house |
| 2010 | Floating Healers | Films Division | 52 mins | Bengali/English | A medical boat in Sundarbans |
| 2009 | Nuts and Bolts | Sonk Films | 29 mins | Kannada | Governance reach in Rural India |
| 2008 | Despite Distortions [16] | Sonk Films | 4 mins | Hindi/Tulu | A migrant rag-picker |
| 2008 | The Untouchables | UNESCO | 10 mins | Kannada | The Koraga community |
| 2007 | Makkala Panchayat (The Kid Power) | FTII-UNDP | 30 mins | Kannada | A children's self-governing Body |
| 2006 | Shaky souls, Empty Chairs, Testing Times | Sonk Films | 41 mins | Hindi/English | Compulsory Testing of HIV |
| 2005 | Bharatha Uvacha (Thus spoke Bharatha) | Films Division | 20 mins | Hindi/English | Ancient Indian treatise on theatre 'Natyashastra' |
| 2003 | Virus No. One | Sonk Films | 10 Mins | Hindi/English/Gujarati | Home care in HIV patients |
| 2002 | Kodavas – The Worrier race | Films Division | 10 mins | Hindi/Kannada | Kodava Community |
| 2002 | My Banjara Diary | Cinema Vision India | 50 mins | Hindi/English | Banjara community |
| 2001 | Gently down the stream | Gayatree Telesofts | 30x2 mins | Hindi/Gujarati/Maliyaali | Traditional ship building |
| 2000 | Voices from Mini Tibet | Films Division | 10 mins | Hindi | Tibetan settlement in India |
| 1999 | Siri Festival | Films Division | 10 mins | Hindi/Kannada/Tulu | Possession syndrome in religion |
| 1998 | Sarvodayagrama | Films Division | 10 mins | Hindi/Kannada | School run on the principles of Acharya Vinoba |
| 1996 | Durga Pooja | Dziga Collective | 40 mins | Bengali/Hindi | Bengali community in Mumbai |
| Year | Title | Channel | Language | Segments/Episodes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Chacha Chaudary | Sahara TV | Hindi | 30 x 70 episodes | Children's serial |
| 2002 | Mr & Mrs Kumara Park East | ETV – Kannada | Kannada | 30 x 10 episodes | Sitcom |
| 2001 | Swamy Swamy | ETV – Kannada | Kannada | 30 x 53 episodes | Detective comedy |
| 2000 | Tele Tubbies | Pogo TV and BBC World | English | 4 x 25 segments | Children's show |
| 2000 | Swara Sadhana | Doordarshan | Hindi | 30 x 26 episodes | Musical show |
| 1999 | Sahara Skits | Sahara TV | Hindi | 4 mins x 10 segments | Comic show |
| 1997 | India Anjaana | Home TV | Hindi | 5 mins x 10 segments | Cultural Magazine |
| 1996 | Naukar Hamara | Doordarshan | Hindi | 12 mins x 26 episodes | Sitcom |
| 1995 | The First Edition | Doordarshan | English | 23 mins a week x 6 months | Current affairs |
| 1991–2000 | Surabhi | Doordarshan | Hindi | 4 mins x 100 segments | Cultural magazine |
Ramchandra reviews films for Upper Stall [17]
Tulu is a Dravidian language whose speakers are concentrated in Dakshina Kannada and in the southern part of Udupi of Karnataka in south-western India and also in the northern parts of the Kasaragod district of Kerala. The native speakers of Tulu are referred to as Tuluva or Tulu people and the geographical area is unofficially called Tulu Nadu.
Kanara or Canara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The subregion comprises three civil districts, namely: Uttara Kannada, Udupi, and Dakshina Kannada. Kassergode was included prior to the States Reorganisation Act.
Yakshagana is a traditional theatre, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form. It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre during the period of the Bhakti movement. It is sometimes simply called "Aata" or āṭa. This theatre style is mainly found in coastal regions of Karnataka in various forms. Towards the south from Dakshina Kannada to Kasaragod of Tulu Nadu region, the form of Yakshagana is called Thenku thittu and towards the north from Udupi up to Uttara Kannada it is called Badaga thittu. Both of these forms are equally played all over the region. Yakshagana is traditionally presented from dusk to dawn. Its stories are drawn from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata and other epics from both Hindu and Jain and other ancient Indic traditions.
Mani Kaul was an Indian director of Hindi films and a figure in Indian parallel cinema. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and later became a teacher. Starting his career with Uski Roti (1969), which won him the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie, he went on to win four of them in all. He won the National Film Award for Best Direction in 1974 for Duvidha and later the National Film Award for his documentary film Siddheshwari in 1989.
Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth widely known as B. V. Karanth was an Indian film director, playwright, actor, screenwriter, composer, and dramatist known for his works in the Kannada theatre, Kannada cinema, and Hindi cinema. One of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema, Karanth was an alumnus of the National School of Drama (1962) and later, its Director. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1976), six National Film Awards, and the civilian honor Padma Shri for his contributions towards the field of art.
Girish Kasaravalli is an Indian film director, in the Kannada cinema, and one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema. Known internationally for his works, Kasaravalli has garnered fourteen National Film Awards, including four Best Feature Films; Ghatashraddha (1977), Tabarana Kathe (1986), Thaayi Saheba (1997) and Dweepa (2002). In 2011, he was awarded with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award by Government of India.
Suddha, also called The Cleansing Rites, is an Indian film, the first-ever Tulu language film shot in the digital format. The 105-minute film was shot in 2004 in a village called Marnad near Mangalore, Karnataka, and was released in 2005. The film is an adaptation of the Tulu Sahitya Academy award-winning Tulu play called Bojja written by Mumbai-based playwright, Narayana Nandalike. Suddha was produced by three Mumbai Tuluvas Mohan Marnad, Surendra Kumar and Ramchandra PN. It was directed by Ramchandra PN, a graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India, Poona. Suddha was his first feature-length film.
Udupi district is an administrative subdivision in the Karnataka state of India, with the district headquarters in the city of Udupi. It is situated in the Canara old north malabar coastal region, there are seven taluks, 233 villages and 21 towns in Udupi district. The three northern tehsils of Udupi, Kundapur and Karkala, were partitioned from Dakshina Kannada district to form Udupi district on 25 August 1997. Moodabidri was officially declared as new tehsil (taluk), separated from Karkala with effect from 11 January 2018.
Naayi Neralu is a 2006 Indian Kannada language film directed by Girish Kasaravalli, based on a novel of the same name by writer S. L. Bhyrappa and has Pavitra Lokesh in the lead role.
Mangaloreans are a collection of diverse ethnic groups that hail from the historical locales of South Canara (Tulunaad) on the south western coast of Karnataka, India, particularly the residents native to Mangaluru.
Putaani Party is a 2009 Kannada language feature film. Produced by Children's Film Society, India, the film was shot in a village called Honnapura situated near the town of Dharwad in South India. The film uses local actors, most of them first timers who are new to the medium of films. The film has a particular dialect of Kannada that is spoken by a few in that part of India.
Udyavara Madhava Acharya was an Indian orator, short story writer, poet, and theatre artist. He is credited with modernisation of the traditional theatre form of Yakshagana. Some of his noted works include Baagida Mara, Rangasthalada Kanavarikegalu, and Nenapadalu Shakunthale. He was a recipient of the Karnataka state Rajyotsava Award in 1999 and the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award in 1970.
Miyar House is a Kannada language feature film in the documentary genre directed and produced by the Mumbai-based director Ramchandra P. N. It was completed in 2011. It tells the personal story of the director as his ancestral house is dismantled in a remote village called Miyar in Karkala Taluk in Udupi district in Karnataka, South India. The film was produced by the director's own firm, Sonk Films, and it features many members of the filmmaker's extended family. The film has a particular dialect of Kannada that is spoken by a few in that part of Karnataka.
Tulu cinema, also known as Coastalwood, is a part of Indian cinema. The Tulu film industry produces five to seven films annually. The first Tulu film was Enna Thangadi released in 1971. Earlier, these films were released in theatres across the Tulu Nadu region. Tulu film industry has grown to such an extent that films are being released simultaneously in Mangalore, Udupi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Middle East. The critically acclaimed Tulu film Suddha won the award for the best Indian Film at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema held in New Delhi in 2006. In 2011, the Tulu film Industry got a second lease of life with the release of the film Oriyardori Asal. The film turned out to be the biggest hit in Tulu film history to date. Chaali Polilu is the longest running film in Tulu film industry. This movie is the highest-grossing film in the Tulu film industry. It has successfully completed 470 days at PVR Cinemas in Mangalore.
Haal-E-Kangaal is a minimalist Hindi language feature film. The film is shot in a single location – a suburban flat in the city of Mumbai. The film stars only two actors. Ramchandra PN served as both the writer and director. The film is a black comedy that is a humorous account of the artistic and intellectual bankruptcy of independent filmmaking scene that presently exists in India. In a larger context, the film subtly debates the role of a filmmaker / artist in a highly competitive self centric world.
B V Karanth:Baba Kannada:, is a biographical Kannada-language documentary film on the life and times of BV Karanth, the man whose influenced Post Independence Modern Indian theater, the most.
B. R. Nagesh, also known by his pen name Nachiketa, was a novelist and short story writer, as well as an English teacher and lecturer by profession. He worked from Karnataka's two coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada. He is most known for notable works pertaining to theater, having written humorous essays and historical accounts on the subject.
Beary or Byari is a Dravidian language spoken by the Bearys who are part of the Muslim community in Tulu Nadu region of Southern Karnataka and Northern Kerala. The community is often recognized as Bearys or Beary Muslims. Beary language is made of Tulu phonology and grammar with Malayalam idioms. Due to the trading role of the community, the language acquired loan words from other languages of Tulu, Malayalam, Kannada and also from Perso-Arabic sources.
