G Kasaravalli is a pioneer filmmaker, and one of the leaders of the Parallel Cinema in Kannada film industry. He has made 7 feature films in his career and who has won the National Film Award for Best Film, 4 times and was also honoured with the Padma Shri in the year 2011. A graduate from FTII of Pune and an admirer of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, G Kasaravalli, also Won the Silver Lotus award for the Short Film, Avashesh. It was the film he made for the completion of his diploma.
Early Life of G Kasaravalli
Girish Kasaravalli was born in the year 1950, to the parents Lakshmi Devi and Ganesh Rao. He completed his primary level studies from Kesalur and middle level education from Kammaradi. Kasaravalli was much interested in the traveling talkie cinemas that came to his native village at long intervals. It was the first time that he experienced the magic of popular Kannada films. After the graduating from College in Shimoga, he got admitted in the College of Pharmacy, Manipal, for a B.Pharma course. After the completion of his degree, G Kasaravalli went to Hyderabad for training.
But due to his immense attraction towards the world of cinema, he was easily distracted from his profession. Eventually he sacrificed his career in Pharmacy and enrolled in the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.
Career of G Kasaravalli
Kasaravalli`s first film was Ghattashraddha in 1977. The music for this film was composed by B V Karnath. It is set simultaneously in the area of the cultural movement. It denounces the Brahmin order that was so characteristic of the Kannada films. The film event, in black and white, is aesthetically perfect and takes place in the 20th century in an orthodox Brahmin village of Karnataka. It deals with widowhood and society. This masterpiece was followed in 1981 by his most pessimistic film, Mooru Darigalu. It is a lamentable story of Nirmala who finds herself confronted with a calumny against her reputation and with the cowardice of men.
Five years later, G Kasaravalli made Tabarana Kathe, in 1986, a very contemporary film about the implacable laws of society seen through the eyes of Babu, a young orphan adopted by Tabarana, the hero of the story. Next, acclaimed as a modern classic, Mane/Ek Ghar, in 1990, in Kannada and Hindi, is an original and finally humanistic film about a contemporary subject of the couple and nuisance in a house. The film starred Naseeruddin Shah in the lead role as Rajan.
In 1996, Kasaravalli`s next movie Kraurya was released, which treated, with humor, the poignant subject of loneliness of a widowed grandmother. His Thaayi Saheba released in 1998. It was a subtle, refined and internalised work which adopted an episodic structure with lots of plots and sub-plots to assert humanistic predilection in order to let things clarify themselves among the concentric circles of Thaayi Saheba`s life. In 2002, Kasaravalli made Dweepa, featuring the late actress Soundarya. The film was an instant success and won him his 4th Golden Lotus award.
Awards of G Kasaravalli
G Kasaravalli has won several awards through out his illustrious career, namely-
* National Film Awards for Best Film- Ghatashraddha, Tabarana Kathe, Thaayi Saheba, Dweepa;
* National Film Awards for Best Film on Family Welfare;
* National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Kannada;
* South Asian Cinema Foundation`s Crystal Globe Award;
* Presidents Golden Lotus for the Best Indian Film;
* Karnataka State Film Awards;
* Ducats Award at the Manneham Film Festival;
* Moitra Award at the Asian Film Festival;
* and several other prestigious awards
Personal Life of G Kasaravalli
G Kasaravalli was married to Vaishali, who was also an actress. His wife died on September 27th 2010. She was 59 years of age at that time.
