Thazhathupurakkal Karunakara Panicker Rajeev Kumar (born 20 September 1961) is a National Award-winning Indian director of Malayalam films, from Trivandrum. He is the winner of five Kerala State Film Awards for Best Film, Director, Story Writer & Script Writer, a show director, theatre actor and percussionist (Mridangam). He is a founding member and leader of the musical band Blue Birds in 1980 and Super Mimics, a comedy show in 1979. He is also the Kerala University winner of Mono Act in the University Youth Festivals 1980–1982 and Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy winner for Mono Act 1979–1982.[ citation needed ]
TK Rajeev Kumar was the chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy from 2003 to 2006. He was also the director of IFFK International Film Festival of Kerala from 2003 to 2006 and was the vice-chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy in 2002. [1] He was nominated as jury chairman for Kerala State Film Awards 2007. He is a member of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). He is a member, general council, of the Film & Television Institute, Pune (2003–2008). He was the founding artistic director of JTPac, Kochi (Jose Thomas Performing Art Centre), now the artistic director of Blue Mermaid Events, Kochi. He has conceived and directed more than 40 international shows, four plays, 80 national cultural events and state pageantries.
He was the creative director for the 35th National Games of India 2015 held in Kerala, opening and closing ceremonies.
He conceived and directed Sentimental Celluloid, the signature film for the 22nd International Film Festival (!FFK) 2017.
He was the CREATIVE DIRECTOR of all the 7 cultural events of G 20 SHERPA MEETINGS @ KUMARAKOM 2023
His only brother TK Sajeev Kumar, visual editor at Kerala Kaumudi and is the chief editor of flash movies published by Kerala Kaumudi group. Sajeev Kumar T.K has been re-appointed as Society for News Design regional director for Asia and South Pacific. He runs a website, www.newspaperdesign.in, about news designing in India and the neighboring countries.
He is closely related to the family of renowned Nadaswaram performers Ambalapuzha Brothers. His talents were identified early by Sri. Ramunni (lead actor of Aravindan's Kumatty), the younger brother of Ambalapuzha brothers. Sri. Ramunni took the initiative and he was made the disciple of Ghattom exponent Alleppey Prabhu; under him he started lessons on the percussion instrument mridangam at an early age. He continued his mridangam studies later with renowned percussionist Mavelikkara SR Raju in Trivandrum. During his college days in Government Arts College, Trivandrum, Professor Aliyar Kunju gave exposure to university youth festivals, theatre productions and film societies. Advertising filmmaker Mathew Paul introduced him to Jijo and Jose of Navodaya films. The former general manager of the State Bank of Travancore, Sri: Sreenivasan, gave him support to become a filmmaker.
TK Rajeev Kumar was born on 20 September 1961 in the Thazhathupurrakal family, Thirunaekkara, Tekkumgopuram in Kottayam district, Kerala. His school education started from Baker Kindergarten School, Kottayam (1966–1970) and continued in MT seminary high school (1971–1972) followed by SDV School, Alleppey (1973–1975) and in MT seminary high school (1971–1972 and 1976), Kottayam. His college studies started at Government Arts College, Trivandrum (1976–1978) and he graduated from University College, Thiruvananthapuram (1978–1982). He was a student of Kerala Law Academy Law College, Thiruvananthapuram from 1982.
During his studies, he joined State Bank of Travancore, Kottyam Main Branch. He started his Malayalam film career as an assistant director with the Navodaya Production Company at the age of 19. He had his lessons from the filmmaker Jijo Punnose, son of Navodaya Appachan. He was lucky to associate with Jijo Punnose in the making of India's first 3D film, My dear Kuttichathan (My dear Chotta Chaetan). He was associated with Regunath Paleri in his debut directorial venture Onnu Muthal Poogyam Varae produced by Navodaya Production Company. His debut film was Chanakyan which featured Kamal Haasan and Urmila Matondkar starring alongside Jayaram. After his debut film, he got associated with the making of Bible ke Khaniya (Stories from Bible) produced by Navodaya for Doordarshan in 1990–1993. He was signed by Kamalhassan to direct a period film in Tamil written by renowned writer Sujatha in 1990, which never took off due to budget constraints. While he was with State Bank Of Travancore, Sri. Sreenivasan, then general manager, supported his cultural inclinations and special permissions were given to him for directing his debut film Chanakyan. The bank authorities were supportive but the rules never permitted them to protect Rajeev's services in the bank. He left State Bank of Travancore, when he was associated with SBT Zonal Office, Trivandrum in early nineties.
Year | Film | Cast | Language | Production | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1984 | My Dear Kuttichathan | Master Aravind, Baby Sonia, Master Suresh, Kottarakkara Sridharan Nair | Malayalam | Navodaya Films | India's first 3D film. Worked as Assistant Director & Script Supervisor |
1989 | Chanakyan | Kamal Haasan, Urmila Matondkar, Jayaram, Sitara | Malayalam | Navodaya Films | Debut directorial venture. Kerala Film Critics Award & the Filmfare Award for the Best Director |
1990 | Kshanakkathu | Niyas, Parvathy, Nedumudi Venu, Thilakan | Malayalam | M/S Central Pictures | |
1991 | Ottayal Pattalam | Mukesh, Madhubala | Malayalam | M/S Century Films | |
1992 | Mahanagaram | Mammootty Murali | Malayalam | Sunitha Productions | |
1994 | Pavithram | Mohanlal, Shobana Sreevidhya, Thilakan, Vinduja Menon, | Malayalam | Vishudhi Films | Filmfare Award for Best Actor (Mohanlal) 1994 |
1996 | Thacholi Varghese Chekavar | Mohanlal, Urmila Matondkar, Nirosha | Malayalam | Seven Arts Films | |
1999 | Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu | Manju Warrier, Thilakan, Biju Menon, Abbas | Malayalam | One 2 One Creations | First Malayalam film to use Avid technology. National special jury Award (1999) for Best Actress to Manju Warrier. She ended her first phase of acting after this film |
1999 | Jalamarmaram | V C Harris, P Balachandran, Aswin Thampi, Joby | Malayalam | The Blue Mermaid Picture Company | National Award for Best Feature Film on Environment, Kerala State Award for Second Best Feature Film 2000 |
2000 | Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya | Arvind Swamy, Manisha Koirala | Hindi | ||
2001 | Vakkalathu Narayanankutty | Jayaram, Jagathy Sreekumar, Mukesh, Manya | Malayalam | Cinema Cinema | |
2002 | Sesham | Jayaram, Biju Menon, Murali, Geethu Mohandas | Malayalam | The Blue Mermaid Picture Company | Kerala State Award 2002 for Best Feature Film, Editing, Sound Recording, Best Story and Special Jury Award for the actor in the lead role. |
2004 | Ivar | Jayaram, Biju Menon, Bhavana | Malayalam | Damor Films | Fully shot using Steadycam |
2008 | Free Kick | Sushand Singh, Asif Basra, Sathyajit, Gowri Karnik, Rajesh Hebbar | Hindi | Jammu Sugahand Productions | Not Yet Released |
2009 | Chal Chala Chal | Govinda, Reema Sen, Rajpal Yadav, Murli Sharma, Om Puri, Manoj Joshi | Hindi | Fuel picture company | Remake of Malayalam film Varavelpu and scenes from Ee Parakkum Thalika . |
2009 | Seetha Kalyanam | Jayaram, Jyothika, Indrajith, Geethu Mohandas | Malayalam | Revathy Kalamandir | |
2010 | Kushti | Rajpal Yadav, The Great Khali, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena, Manoj Joshi | Hindi | SRK entertainments | Remake of Malayalam film Mutharamkunnu P.O. |
2010 | Oru Naal Varum | Mohanlal, Sreenivasan | Malayalam | Maniyanpilla Raju Productions | |
2011 | Rathinirvedam | Shweta Menon, KPAC Lalitha | Malayalam | Revathy Kalaamandhir Production | Remake of the 1978 film of the same name |
2011 | Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty | Nithya Menon, Shweta Menon, Unni Mukundan | Malayalam | Reel 2 Reel Cine Productions | |
2013 | Up & Down: Mukalil Oralundu [2] | Indrajith, Meghana Raj, Prathap Pothen, Remya Nambeesan | Malayalam | Blue Mermaid Picture Company | Based On Gr Indugopans Up&Down |
2019 | Kolaambi | Nithya Menen, Renji Panicker, Rohini, Dileesh Pothan G Suresh Kumar | Malayalam | Roopesh Omana, Nirmalyam Cinema | Selected to Indian Panorama, International Film Festival of India 2019, Goa, National Award winner for best Lyric Writer, State Award Winner for Best Female Playback Singer |
2021 | Bermuda | Shane nigam, Vinay Forrt Shaylee Krishen, Gowri Nanda, Niranjana, Shiny Sara, Saiju Kurup, Karamana Sudheer | Malayalam | 24 frames Production | Under Production |
Kerala University Youth Festival award for Best Monact performer – 1978–1980
Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy award for Best Monoact Performance – 1980
All India One Act play, Pune 1981, Best Actor
Pavithram
Jalamarmaram
Shesham
Kolaambi
Palathully, a short film on rain harvesting for Malayala Manorama won the UN International Award for the Best film for Campaign.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music and a cultural icon of Kerala. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Tulu, Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Marathi as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian, in a career spanning six decades. He is often referred to as Gaanagandharvan. Yesudas holds the record for singing 11 songs in different languages in a single day. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.
Mohanlal Viswanathan is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 400 films. Mohanlal's contributions to the Malayalam cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001, and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. Mohanlal was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN-News18.
Priyadarshan is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Malayalam and Hindi cinema. The massive success his movies enjoyed mirrors the collective conscience of the people, particularly the elite, of that era - a period with which the filmmaker is intimately connected.
Kilukkam (transl. Jingle) is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film directed by Priyadarshan and written by Venu Nagavalli. The story set in Ooty revolves around tourist guide Joji (Mohanlal) and photographer Nishchal. They happen to meet a lavish tourist Nandini (Revathi), whom they bet their fortunes on. It also stars Thilakan, Innocent, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, Sukumari, and Sharat Saxena, with Murali and Jagadish making cameo appearances. The music was composed by S. P. Venkatesh. Kilukkam was released on 15 August 1991. The film was the highest-grossing Malayalam film at that time and ran for more than 365-days at the theaters. Kilukkam won five Kerala State Film Awards, including Best Actor for Mohanlal, Second Best Actor for Jagathy Sreekumar, Best Editor for N. Gopalakrishnan, and Best Cinematographer for S. Kumar. The film is regarded as one of the best comedy films of Malayalam cinema. It was remade in Telugu as Allari Pilla and in Hindi as Muskurahat by Priyadarshan himself. Later, the film had a sequel Kilukkam Kilukilukkam (2006). The movie was reported to have been inspired by the 1953 American movie Roman Holiday.
Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing credits in few films. Ponnamma is a four-time Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress winner. Her sister Kaviyoor Renuka was also an actress. Often called as the Mother to all actors, she has acted as mother of almost all actors in her career panning over decades. At the age of 20, she played the mother of Sathyan and Madhu in the 1965 movie Thommente Makkal. She gained critical acclaim for acting as the mother of the actor Mohanlal.
Raavanaprabhu is a 2001 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller drama film written and directed by Ranjith in his directorial debut. It is a sequel to the 1993 film Devaasuram written by Ranjith, directed by I.V. Sasi. The film stars Mohanlal in the dual role of Mangalassery Neelakandan and M. N. Karthikeyan, father and son. Napoleon reprises the role of Neelakandan's archenemy Mundackal Shekharan. It also features Vasundhara Das, Siddique, Innocent, Vijayaraghavan, and Sai Kumar. Revathi reprises the role of Bhanumathi in a cameo appearance. The plot follows M. N. Karthikeyan, Neelakandan's son and his attempts to reclaim their ancestral home Mangalassery tharavadu.
Vidhu Prathap is an Indian playback singer. He has sung many songs in over 600 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages.
Adiyozhukkukal (transl. Undercurrents) is a 1984 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by I. V. Sasi and written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair, starring Mammootty, Mohanlal, Seema, Balan K. Nair, Vincent, and Rahman. The film was produced by Raju Mathew under the banner of Casino and was distributed by Century Films.
Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, and businessman who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in more than 150 films and has won several awards, including four Kerala State Film Awards and one Filmfare Awards South.
Amal Neerad is an Indian film director, cinematographer and producer who mainly works in Malayalam cinema. He attended the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. He was awarded the National Film Award for Best Cinematography in 2001 for his diploma film Meena Jha.
Aashirvad Cinemas is an Indian film production company based in Kochi, Kerala. It was established in 2000 by Antony Perumbavoor, since then, it has produced over 30 Malayalam films, starring Mohanlal. Since 2009, the company co-operates with the distribution company Maxlab Cinemas and Entertainments co-founded by Mohanlal and Antony Perumbavoor for distributing films. It is one among the most active and leading production houses in the Malayalam film industry.
Arun Kumar Aravind is an Indian film director, editor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema.
Priyanka Nair is an Indian model-turned-actress who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. She made her debut in the Tamil film Veyyil in 2006. She gained critical acclaim for her roles in Bhoomi Malayalam, Vilapangalkappuram and Jalam.
Pranayam (transl. Love) is a 2011 Indian Malayalam-language romantic drama film written and directed by Blessy. The film stars Mohanlal, Jaya Prada, and Anupam Kher. The plot revolves around the love bond between the characters of Mathews (Mohanlal), Grace, and Achutha Menon (Kher). The music for the film was composed by M. Jayachandran. The film opened to positive reviews from critics and was also average at the box office.
Run Baby Run is a 2012 Indian Malayalam-language comedy thriller film directed by Joshiy, produced and distributed by Milan Jaleel through the company Galaxy Films. It was the first independent screenplay of Sachy following the split of Sachi-Sethu duo. The film stars Mohanlal and Amala Paul. The music was composed by Ratheesh Vegha, while cinematography was done by R. D. Rajasekhar.
Loham: The Yellow Metal is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film written and directed by Ranjith, and produced by Antony Perumbavoor for the production company Aashirvad Cinemas. The film, starring Mohanlal, Renji Panicker, Siddique, Andrea Jeremiah and Ajmal Ameer is about an elusive smuggling operation and the mysterious disappearance of 100 kilograms (220 lb) of gold. Sreevalsan J. Menon and C. Rajamani composed the soundtrack and film score, respectively.
Pathemari (transl. Dhow) is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language period drama film written and directed by Salim Ahamed and starring Mammootty in the lead role, with a supporting cast that includes Jewel Mary, Siddique, Sreenivasan, Salim Kumar, Shaheen Siddique, Viji Chandrasekhar, and Joy Mathew. The plot follows the life of Pallikkal Narayanan (Mammootty) who migrated to the Middle-East in the early 1960s when the Kerala Gulf boom was just beginning.
Pappanikunnel Thankappan Saju, better known by his stage name Saju Navodaya, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Malayalam films, television and stage. He began his career as a comedian on stage shows and later forayed into television and into films. In January 2020, he contested in the second season of Malayalam reality TV show Bigg Boss.
Oppam (transl. Along) is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film directed by Priyadarshan from a story by Govind Vijayan. The film, produced by Antony Perumbavoor for Aashirvad Cinemas, stars Mohanlal, Baby Meenakshi and Samuthirakani. The songs were composed by the group 4 Musics, while the score was composed by Ron Ethan Yohann. The cinematography and editing were handled by N. K. Ekambaram and M. S. Ayyappan Nair.
http://mathrubhuminews.in/ee/Programs/Episode/13745/songs-from-t-k-rajeev-kumars-movies-chakkarapanthal-ep-102/E Archived 5 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine www.yentha.com/.../interview-of-the-week-t-k-rajeev-kumar–forever-in- www.sify.com/movies/malayalam/interview.php?id=6005465&cid. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvs4raT_cbM www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qXUbyim8EM www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqTzDkavgKI Kerala Lottery Onam Bumper - T K Rajeev Kumar