Ramu Kariat

Ramu Kariat Biography

Ramu Kariat is always regarded as the greatest film maker of Malayalam. He was the producer and director of the landmark movie of Malayalam – Chemmeen. It’s believed that if inflation figures are adjusted, no one Malayalam movie has been able to reach the box-office collection record reached by Chemmeen. The movie Chemmeen released in the year 1965 is the first Malayalam movie to receive President’s medal for best Indian feature film at National award section. Chemmeen is always regarded as the best movie ever made on Malayalam screen and its place is always among the top listed movies of all Indian languages. The movie was based on the novel written by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. Depite being got so much success, his end days were spent in miseries and poverty and it’s widely believed that many theatre owners and people of cinema have become millionaires through the single movie ‘Chemmeen’  and Ramu had never made an account of its collection!

Ramu Kariat was active in the industry from 50’s to 70’s and he has also made another landmark movie of Malayalam, Neelakuyil (1954) that made Sathyan an overnight star. Minnaminungu (1957), Mudiyanaya Puthran (1961) and Moodupadam (1963) are other contributions of Kariat to Malayalam cinema. He started his career through the Kerala People's Arts Club (K.P.A.C.), famous theatre of yesterdays. His debut movie was Thirumala in 1953 which he co-directed along with P.R.S. Pillai. It was followed by the milestone movie – Neelakuyil which broke all box office records till then.

After that Ramu didn’t look back and his works were equally praised by audience and critics. His life witnessed the peak of his career with the release of Chemmeen- tragic love story starring Madhu, Sathyan and Sheela and its National awards. In 1975 he was a member of the jury at the 9th Moscow International Film Festival.

In 1954, Neelakuyil and Biraj Bahu became the second Indian films (In 1953, the award shared by Do bheega zameen and Bhagavan Sri Krishna Chaitanya) to receive All India Certificate of Merit in National award section. In 1961, Ramu won President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Malayalam – for the movie Mudiyanaya Puthran.  Other movies directed by Ramu kariat are Maya, Bharatnatyam, Nellu, abhayam, Ezhu rathrikal and Ammuvinde Aattinkutti. He directed fifteen films during his career. It was for Ramu’s movie Nellu, that Lata mangeshkar sang her first Malayalam song – kadali thenkadali.

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Updated: September 19, 2013