Geetu Mohandas (image-Instagram/geetu_mohandas)
Ever since the first sneak peek of KGF star Yash’s upcoming film titled Toxic dropped, director Geetu Mohandas has been trending. Released on January 8, the teaser was dropped on the occasion of Yash’s birthday. The film, although set for an initial release on April 10, has been postponed.
A Child Artist
Born as Gayatri Das, her family would call her Geetu, which she eventually adopted as her screen name. She entered the Malayalam film industry as a child artist at the age of five in Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare (1986) alongside Mohanlal. She also acted in the En Bommukutty Ammavukku (1988), the Tamil remake of Fazil’s Mamattikkuttiyammakku.
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An Actress
As she progressed in her career, Geetu Mohandas featured in Life Is Beautiful with Mohanlal in the lead. She also featured in films like Thenkasi Pattanam, Valkannadi, Nammal Thammil, and Akale, which earned her a Kerala State Award and Filmfare for Best Actress in 2004.
A Director
After her relatively illustrious career as an actor, she established her production house, Unplugged, in 2009. Directing her first short fiction film, Kelkkunnundo, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, she bagged three international awards and the National Film Award in India. The film has been a part of the 12th-grade syllabus in Kerala since 2014.
Liar’s Dice, her first feature film, a socio-political drama, catapulted her to fame. The film, which featured Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa, and others, competed at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and won multiple international and national awards. The film follows the story of a young mother from a remote village who, in search of her missing husband, goes missing herself. Liar’s Dice examines the human cost of migration to cities and the exploitation of migrant workers.
Her second film, Moothon, starring Nivin Pauly, Roshan Mathew, Shashank Arora, Sobhita Dhulipala, and others, premiered at TIFF 2019, opened MAMI 2019, and earned her the Global Filmmaker Award at Sundance 2016.
Featuring a bilingual narrative, Moothon, co-written by Anurag Kashyap, follows a 14 year old orphan who sets off from Lakshadweep in search of an elder brother. As the child navigates through the underbelly of Mumbai in search of his brother, the film explores the different perspectives of masculinity and the quest for ‘home.’
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Having established herself as a reputable filmmaker, Geetu is back with her upcoming Toxic. What is surprising is that fans await how the director’s approach will balance the KGF actor’s star power and create a film for the masses.
