Sarath

Journalist turned filmmaker, R Sarath started his film career as a documentary filmmaker. During filming of The Painted Epics he found out some rare mural paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, which was not yet exposed to the public. This findings has been a landmark in the history of Ravi Varma paintings.

His debut feature film Sayahnam won him several awards including the Indira Gandhi National Award of 2000 and was screened at Munich in 2001. His second film Stithi too won him state awards.

R Sarath presently works in the Department of Culture, Government of Kerala.

Filmography:

Sayahnam - 2000
(Twilight)

In his debut film Sayahnam R Sharat discusses the hot topic of the nuclear tests made by India.

K K Madhavan (KK), a socialist and Ex-Chief Minister is still an influential power even after his retirement from active politics. His writings are still considered authentic party documents. KK, whose son is a Nuclear Scientist and is part of the nuclear program of India, has a very clear opinion against India going the nuclear way. KK writes an article condemning the Nation's nuclear tests. By writing this article, KK creates a difficult situation for his party, which depends on the popularistic ideologies towards its growth to a National level party. The party Secretary visits him with a demand to publicly revert his position on the Nuclear tests. Here, KK has to face a war between his personal ideology and the popularistic ideology of his party.

The character KK gives hint to the real life legend, E M Shankaran Namboodaripadu (EMS), the first Communist Chief Minister of Kerala. EMS who had his own clear-cut ideologies on every matter, some time had to revert his positions just for the sake of his party.

Sayahnam won six State Film awards including the best film, and National award for the best new coming director for Sharat. The film was screened in Munich in 2001.

Direction & Screenplay: R Sarath
Cast: O Madhavan
Cinematography: M G Radhakrishnan
Music: M Jayachandran

Stithi - 2002
(The Plight)

Stithi is about a middle class family in Kerala displaced in a changing society.

Vivek and Vani are government employees. They live with their two children in a modest house in the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. The government threatens to slash some of the perks enjoyed by its employees and a call to strike work by all unions looks imminent. They are worried as a strike could drag on and result in a loss of pay. To add to this tension, their landlord asks them to move out. Vivek finds a convenient but more expensive house in the city. The strike starts and problems in their life too start.

Direction & Screenplay: R Sarath
Cast: Nandini Goswal, Unni Menon
Cinematography: M G Radhakrishnan
Music: M Jayachandran

Seelabathi - 2005
(The Wart)

Sheelabathi who has been brought up in West Bengal, comes to visit her native village in Kerala along with her mother Sumangala. Anyhow, though Sumangala returns to Bengal, Sheelabathi stays behind because she gets a temporary job as a computer teacher in a school. She stays with her grandparents. In school, she soon gets adapted to things and becomes friendly with her students. Sheelabathi also meets a young doctor Jeevan, with whom she becomes very friendly. In the meantime, certain developments occur in the village. There are people who come to dig huge bore-wells and consequently there is much of water scarcity. And young students disappear mysteriously from the school and end up being sexually exploited and some even die. Sheelabathi is very much helpless about all this. But Sheelabathi responds in her own way.

Direction & Screenplay: R Sarath
Cast: Kavya Madhavan, Urmila Unni, Sunil, Nedumbram Gopi, Indrans
Cinematography: Anand Balakrishnan
Music: Ramesh Narayanan

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