Girish Kasaravalli

Girish Kasaravalli Biography

Girish Kasaravalli is one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema of Kannada film industry. He is a film director, producer and screenwriter by profession. In a career spanning to 3 decades, he has made 11 feature films and one television serial. The short film, Avashesh, made during his diploma studies helped him to earn National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film. Up to date, he has received thirteen National Film Awards which is really commendable. In 1996, Kraurya won the Silver Lotus Award for the Best Kannada film of the year. In 2008, Gulabi talkies received state awards as well as best regional film at National film awards. He is married to Vaishali Kasaravalli, a noted actress and serial director.

Girish Kasaravalli was born in Kesalur in 1950 to Ganesh Rao and Lakshmi Devi. His school and college education were completed from Shimoga. He enrolled for B.Pharm at Manipal University. But he quit studies due to his interest in theater. He graduated from FTII Pune in the year 1975 with a gold medal. He assisted the noted director B. V. Karanth for the film Chomana Dudi while doing his final year. His debut movie as a director was Ghatashraddha in 1977 which accumulated the Golden Lotus award and a few international awards. He won his second Golden Lotus for Tabarana Kathe in 1987.

In 1997, Thaayi Saheba won him his third Golden Lotus award.  This work is regarded as one among the best works of Girish. In 2002, he directed Dweepa which won him the fourth one. Other noted works include - Akramana in 1979, Mooru darigalu in 1981, Bannada Vesha in 1988, Mane in 1990, Kraurya in 1996, Hasina in 2004 and Naayi Neralu in 2006. The International Film Festival of Rotterdam held a retrospective of Girish Kasaravalli's films in 2003.

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Updated: January 24, 2014