Mohan Roop

Mohan Roop Biography

Mohan Roop was a director and screenwriter associated with Malayalam movies and documentaries. He has directed many movies in the 1980s. Though not successful as a film director, he gained attention through his documentary films. ‘Varshangal Poyathariyathe’ and his debut film – Vettah are his noted works, though both were unsuccessful at box office in the 1980s. ‘Varshangal Poyathariyathe’ – includes one of the evergreen melodies of Malayalam – Ila Kozhiyum Shisirathil. Made his maiden venture at the age of 21, his debut movie Vettah was noted for its star cast.  The three great legends of Mollywood - Mammooty, Mohanlal and Srinivasan shared screen space together for the first time through his film Vettah (1984), a movie often regarded as a courageous effort to give chance to these three actors, newcomers then.

Mohan Roop was a native of Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram. After his love marriage and its complications, he settled in Thrissur 20 years ago. He also got converted to Christianity. Though he joined S. N. College at Varkala, he later discontinued his studies to join Pune Institute. After doing the direction course from the prestigious Film institute, he worked as assistant under Aravindan for the movie, Kummatti.  A simple man who dreamt to make good quality cinema, later made a few commercial films which became unsuccessful. His debut film ‘Vettah’ was in news before its release itself, for its star cast that included newcomers, Mammooty, Mohanlal and Srinivasan apart from the legendary Balan.K.Nair. He was the screenwriter and producer too. However the movie was a box office failure.

It was followed by a string of flops – Nulli Novikkathe, Varshangal Poyathariyathe, Excuse Me Ethu Collegelaa, Ivare Sookshikkuka, Sparsham, Shilpi, Kannukal Ariyaamal (Tamil) and Thoothavan (Tamil). Sparsham was his last release. He introduced the actors Shivaji and Rajeev through his second film - Nulli Novikkathe. Noted Malayalam actors – Kalabhavan Mani and Prem Kumar made their film debut through his comedy film, Excuse Me Ethu Collegelaa. He introduced cameraman Dileep through his Tamil film - Kannukal Ariyaamal. Actor Aditya was introduced to Tamil film through Thoothavan.

He achieved success through the television serials - Pakida Pantrandu on Doordarshan and March Maasathile Lilly Pookkal on Kairali TV. He also made many documentaries. Thoothavan received Lalitha Kala Academy’s Dr. Ambedkar Award. He was active with the work of a documentary film – Divine Centuries, when he was found dead in Mission Quarters, Thrissur Main town. He was only 53. It’s quite surprising that the director of the 1980s film ‘Vettah’ met with an unexpected death, just three days after Rajesh Pillai, director of Friday release – Vettah died of liver cirrhosis quite unpredicted! Rajesh Pillai died one day after the release of his last film, while Mohan Roop died three days later after this shocking news. Surprisingly his debut film was ‘Vettah’!

He was the neighbour of young film director Sajan Kurien who died exactly three months ago on December 1st. Since February 2016, Malayalam film industry has lost many veteran and budding artists, quite unpredicted! March has also begun with an unpleasant knot.

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Updated: March 06, 2016