Lijo Jose Pellissery

Lijo Jose Pellissery is an Indian film director and actor who predominantly works in Malayalam Cinema. Known for his unconventional approach in directing, his films are characterized by nonlinear storylines, aestheticization of violence, extended scenes of dialogue and very long takes.[1][2][3][4] He is a recipient of the Best Director Award at the 48th Kerala State Film Awards for Ee.Ma.Yau, Best Director Award at the 50th Kerala State Film Awards for Jallikattu, Best Film Award at the 44th Kerala Film Critics Association Awards for Jallikattu and twice recipient of Silver Peacock for the Best Director at the 49th International Film Festival of India and 50th International Film Festival of India for his films Ee.Ma.Yau and Jallikattu respectively.[5] He also received the Silver Crow Pheasant Award at the International Film Festival of Kerala 2018.[6] He is widely considered to be one of the most important and influential filmmakers of Indian Cinema.

Lijo Jose Pellissery
Pellissery at IFFI 2018
Born (1978-09-18) 18 September 1978
Other namesLijo Jose, LJP
Alma mater
OccupationFilm director, actor, producer
Years activeSince 2010
Spouse(s)Jasmine James
Parent(s)Jose Pellissery
Lilly Jose
Awards

Pellissery made his debut in 2010 with the crime film Nayakan and followed it up with the crime-drama City of God (2011) and the black comedy satire Amen (2013), the last mentioned, a commercial success at the Kerala box office. His fourth film, Double Barrel, an experimental film received only mixed reviews. His fifth film was again a crime-gangster film Angamaly Diaries (2017), starring almost 90 new actors, which preceded Ee.Ma.Yau, released in 2018. His latest movie Jallikkattu premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In November 2020, Jallikkattu was announced as the Indian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.

Personal life

Pellissery was born on September 18, 1978 in Chalakudy in Thrissur district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Lilly and Jose Pellissery, a known film and theater actor and a winner of a state award for best stage actor.[7][8] His schooling was at Carmel Higher Secondary School, Chalakudy and, after graduating from the Union Christian College, Aluva, he earned a master's degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore.[9][10] [11]

Career

By the time Lijo Pellissery was born, Jose Pellissery who co-owned a theater group by Sarathy Theatres,[8] was active in Malayalam films and this gave the young Lijo an early grounding in films.[12] His career started as an assistant to Manoj Pillai, an ad filmmaker, and Pellissery soon started making short films of his own. One of his films, 3, was one of three films shortlisted for the best film award at the PIX Short Film Festival 2007.[13] He debuted as a feature film director in 2010 with Nayakan, which narrated the story of a Kathakali artist who joined the underworld to take revenge on those who killed his family. Though the film was critically acclaimed, it failed at the box office.[14][15][16][17] His next venture, City of God, one of the early New Generation films of Malayalam cinema[18] and a multi-starrer featuring Indrajith Sukumaran, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Parvathy, Swetha Menon and Rima Kallingal used hyperlink cinema as its narrative structure and was a critical success[19] but, again failed miserably at the box office; it was pulled from cinemas just days after its release.[20]

It took another two years before he came up with his third movie, Amen, in 2013, which had Indrajith Sukumaran, Fahad Fasil, Swathi Reddy and Kalabhavan Mani in the lead roles and the movie succeeded at the box office while drawing good critical response.[21][22] After a gap of almost two years, Pellissery released his fourth film, Double Barrel, a comic thriller, with Prithviraj Sukumaran, Indrajith Sukumaran, Arya, Sunny Wayne and Asif Ali in the lead roles. However, the film did not succeed critically or commercially.[23] The next project, Angamaly Diaries, a black comedy cloaked in a gangster plot that revolves around the locale of Angamaly, was scripted by popular actor, Chemban Vinod Jose.[24] The film, made on a small budget of ₹30 million,[25] was received well at the box office and drew critical acclaim; Anurag Kashyap opined that Angamaly Diaries was his film of the year.[26][27] Ee.Ma.Yau, his next film based on a satire written by P. F. Mathews[28] and with his regular composer, Prashant Pillai, scoring the music,[29] was premiered on November 30, 2017[30] but the release was delayed due to undisclosed reasons.[31] Before it was released on May 4, 2018, the film received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Director at the 48th Kerala State Film Awards.[5] The film also won him the Silver Peacock Award for the best director at the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 2018, which was held in Goa in November 2018[32] (Chemban Vinod Jose, the protagonist of the film, also received the Silver Peacock Award for the best actor.[33]) followed by the Sinema Zetu International Film Festival Award for Best Direction.[34]

Influences and style of film making

A fan of film makers such as K. G. George, Padmarajan, Akira Kurosawa, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola,[35][36] Pellissery often uses non-linear style of narrative.[18] His early films had established actors in the lead roles but Angamaly Diaries marked a change where almost the entire cast were newcomers with 86 new actors making their debut, and subsequently accomplishing a triumph in the form of a 11-minute uninterrupted long take in the climax.[37][38]

Filmography

As director

Year Title Cast Screenwriter Notes
2010NayakanIndrajith, Siddique, Lakshmi Sharma, ThilakanP. S. Rafeeq
2011City of GodPrithviraj, Rima Kallingal, Indrajith, ParvathyBabu Janardhanan
2013AmenFahadh Faasil, Swati Reddy, IndrajithP. S. Rafeeq
2015Double BarrelPrithviraj, Indrajith, Asif Ali, AryaLijo Jose Pellissery, Arun George K David
2017Angamaly DiariesAntony Varghese, Anna RajanChemban Vinod Jose
2018Ee.Ma.YauVinayakan, Chemban Vinod Jose, Dileesh PothanP. F. Mathews
2019JallikkattuAntony Varghese, Chemban Vinod JoseS Hareesh, R. Jayakumar
2020ChuruliVinay Forrt, Chemban Vinod JoseVinoy Thomas, S Hareesh Announced

As producer

Year Title Director Notes
2015Double BarrelHimselfCo-produced with August Cinema
2018Swathanthryam ArdharathriyilTinu PappachanCo-produced with BC Joshi and Chemban Vinod Jose
2019ThamaashaAshraf HamzaCo-produced with Sameer Thahir, Shyju Khalid and Chemban Vinod Jose
2019JallikkattuHimselfCo-produced with O.Thomas Panicker and Chemban Vinod Jose
2020ChuruliHimselfCo-produced with O.Thomas Panicker and Chemban Vinod Jose

As actor

Year Title Director Role
2010NayakanLijo Jose PellisseryMalaysian smuggling agent "Steve"
2011Bombay March 12Babu JanardhananTerrorist
2014Sapthamashree ThaskarahaAnil Radhakrishnan MenonPriest
2016AakashavaniKhais MillenThomas Kuruvila
2016Darvinte ParinamamJijo AntonyHimself
2017Oru CinemakkaranLeo ThaddeusHimself
2017MayaanadhiAashiq AbuDirector Len Prasad
2018Swathanthryam ArdharathriyilTinu PappachanLawyer Tony Mattathil
2018PadayottamRafeek IbrahimGangster Britto

Awards

Year Award Venue Film
2013Best DirectorAsianet Film AwardsAmen
2017Kerala State Film Award for Best Director48th Kerala State Film AwardsEe.Ma.Yau
2017Best DirectorCinema Paradiso Club AwardAngamaly Diaries
2018Silver Peacock Award for Best Director49th International Film Festival of IndiaEe.Ma.Yau
2018Silver Crow Pheasant Award for the Best DirectorInternational Film Festival of KeralaEe.Ma.Yau
2018Filmfare Award for Best Director – MalayalamFilmfare Awards SouthEe.Ma.Yau
2019Silver Peacock Award for Best Director50th International Film Festival of IndiaJallikattu[39]
Best Director (special mention)International Film Festival of KeralaJallikattu
Best DirectorSinema Zetu International Film Festival Award SZIFFEe.Ma.Yau
Kerala State Film Award for Best Director 50th Kerala State Film Awards Jallikattu

References

  1. "'Angamaly Diaries': Film Review | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com.
  2. "Jallikattu Movie Review By Baradwaj Rangan". 7 October 2019.
  3. Ramnath, Nandini. "In Lijo Jose Pellissery's 'Jallikattu', a buffalo runs amok and brings out the beast in humans". Scroll.in.
  4. "'I don't think we can ever shoot such a climax again'". The New Indian Express.
  5. "മരണത്തോളം സത്യസന്ധം ഈ ചിത്രം; റിവ്യു". ManoramaOnline. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  6. "ലിജോ ജോസ് പെല്ലിശ്ശേരി മികച്ച സംവിധായകന്‍; ഡാര്‍ക്ക് റൂം മികച്ച ചിത്രം". Mathrubhumi. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "The Hindu : Kerala News : Actor Jose Pellissery dead". www.thehindu.com. 6 December 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  9. "Lijo Jose Pellissery biography". veethi.com. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  10. "Lijo Jose Pellissery to get engaged – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  11. "Lijo Jose Pellissery to get engaged - Times of India". The Times of India.
  12. "Lijo Jose Pellissery IDSFFK". IDSFFK. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  13. "PIX declares winners of its short film fest - Businessofcinema.com". Businessofcinema.com. 25 December 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  14. "Nayakan Review – Malayalam Movie Review by VN". Nowrunning.com. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  15. "Review: Nayakan is interesting – Rediff.com Movies". Rediff.com. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  16. "Movie Review:Nayakan". Sify.com. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  17. Gayathry, By (22 March 2010). "Nayakan – Review | – Oneindia Entertainment". Entertainment.oneindia.in. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  18. "Malayalam movies: Non-linear narratives are making the box-office ring louder". economictimes. 21 May 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  19. Veeyen (24 April 2011). "City Of God Review". nowrunning.com – "don't miss the show!". INFOCON LLC. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  20. "Review: City Of God is worth a watch". Rediff. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  21. "Fahadh Faasil's Amen turns four! – Times of India". The Times of India. 22 March 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  22. "Review: Amen is brilliant". Rediff. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  23. "Double Barrel Movie Review {2.5/5}: Critic Review of Double Barrel by Times of India". Times of India. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  24. James, Anu (2 December 2018). "Angamaly Diaries review: Here's what celebs have to say about Lijo Jose Pellissery's movie". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  25. "Small is beautiful: Malayalam cinema's low budget films are scoring big at the box office". The News Minute. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  26. "And...the best film of the year is Angamaly Diaries, says Anurag Kashyap! – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  27. "Angamaly Diaries: Here Is What Anurag Kashyap Has To Say About The Movie!". filmibeat.com. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  28. "Angamaly Storyteller, Lijo Jose Pellissery Has taken Contemporary Malayalam Cinema By Storm". Man's World India. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  29. "French Viplavam to be released in September". Cinema Express. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  30. M, Athira (30 November 2017). "'Ee.Ma.Yau' preview: A death and the events that follow". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  31. "Release of Lijo Jose's 'Ee Ma Yau' postponed to 2018". The News Minute. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  32. "IFFI: Chemban Vinod and Lijo Jose Pellissery bag big wins at the film fest – Times of India". The Times of India. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  33. "The unpredictable mind behind 'Ee.Ma Yau': Lijo Jose Pellissery interview". The News Minute. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  34. "SZIFF – International Film Festival Tanzania". sziff.co.tz. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  35. [I Personally – Lijo Jose Pellissery – Part 03 Kappa TV (YouTube Video) YouTube Channel]
  36. "Welcome to Gateway". Rediff.com. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  37. "Angamaly Diaries: Meet the director whose Malayalam film is probably the best this year". hindustantimes.com. 30 April 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  38. "EE. Ma. Yau: Five reasons to watch Lijo Jose Pellissery – Times of India". The Times of India. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  39. Sangeeta Nair (29 November 2019). "IFFI 2019: Full list of winners; Particles wins Best Film, Lijo Jose Pellissery wins Best Director award". Jagran Prakashan. Jagran Josh. Retrieved 25 November 2020.

Further reading

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