Ranjith Sankar
Ranjith Sankar is an Indian Filmmaker who works in Malayalam films. He started his movie career with the 2009 thriller film Passenger. Sankar followed Passenger up with Arjunan Saakshi,Molly Aunty Rocks, Punyalan Agarbattis, Varsham, Su.. Su... Sudhi Vathmeekam, Pretham, Ramante Eden Thottam, Punyalan Private Limited, Njan Marykutty Pretham 2 and Kamala'' . Sankar launched his production house Dreams N Beyond in 2012 and his distribution house Punyalan Cinemas in 2017.
Biography
Born in Thrissur, Kerala, India, Ranjith Sankar completed his education from St. Thomas College in Thrissur and received his Masters degree at Mar Athanasius College of Engineering Kothamangalam. Shankar’s writing career began with television series such as Nizhalkal and American Dreams. He won the Kerala State Award for Best Screenplay for American Dreams.His big break in films came in 2009 through Passenger, the scale of which, for Malayalam commercial cinema, was unprecedented. The film won accolades from critics and audience.
In 2011, his next film Arjunan Saakshi, starring Prithviraj, was released. It was inspired by his real-life experiences and received generally positive reviews from critics.
In interviews, Sankar has said that it was Prithviraj who made him launch his production house Dreams N Beyond in 2012. Sankar designed a new business model never tried before in Malayalam cinema with the house. The 10 films he directed after Arjunan Sakshi were produced by himself along with the respective heroes in those films, Prithviraj, Mammootty, Jayasurya and others.
Molly Aunty Rocks starring Revathy and Prithviraj was Dreams n Beyond's maiden production, a critical and commercial success. His next film was Punyalan Agarbattis, a satire featuring Jayasurya, Nyla Usha, Innocent, Rachana Narayanankutty and Aju Varghese. The film was a superhit and now considered an iconic thrissur movie.
His next movie Varsham starring Mammootty, Asha Sarath and Mamta Mohandas was released in November 2014. The film was a huge commercial and critical success with Mammootty winning almost all major awards that year. This was followed by a biographical film Su.. Su... Sudhi Vathmeekam in November 2015.The film was a hit and it won national and state awards for Jayasurya.
Ranjith Sankar's third film with Jayasurya, a horror comedy titled "Pretham" was released in August 2016.The film was Sankar's biggest commercial success since then and was remade in Telugu.
Ramante Edanthottam was his next, a best-selling movie on female empowerment. He followed it up with sequels to Punyalan and Pretham titled Punyalan Private Limited and Pretham2. He launched his distribution company Punyalan Cinemas with Punyalan Private Limited which was another major commercial success.
He made Njan Marykutty in 2018 which was the first commercial movie in India with a transgender person as protagonist. Jayasurya played Marykutty which won two Kerala State Awards and had a major run in film festivals. The film was a commercial success as well and looked upon as a pioneer Indian movie on transgender rights.
Kamala, his latest movie, an experimental thriller was released in 2019.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Cast | Notes |
| 2009 | Passenger | Dileep, Sreenivasan, Mamta Mohandas, Jagathy Sreekumar | |
| 2011 | Arjunan Sakshi | Prithviraj, Ann Augustine, Mukesh, Biju Menon | |
| 2012 | Molly Aunty Rocks | Prithviraj, Revathy, Lalu Alex | |
| 2013 | Punyalan Agarbattis | Jayasurya, Nyla Usha, Aju Varghese | |
| 2014 | Varsham | Mammootty, Asha Sarath | |
| 2015 | Su.. Su... Sudhi Vathmeekam | Jayasurya, shivada, Aju Varghese | |
| 2016 | Pretham | Jayasurya, Aju Varghese, Sharaf U Dheen, Shruthi Ramachandran | |
| 2017 | Ramante Edanthottam | Kunchako Boban, Anu Sithara, Joju George | |
| 2017 | Punyalan Private Limited | Jayasurya, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Aju Varghese | |
| 2018 | Njan Marykutty | Jayasurya, Jewel Mary, Aju Varghese | |
| 2018 | Pretham 2 | Jayasurya, Saniya Iyappan, Amith Chakalakkal, Durga Krishna | |
| 2019 | Kamala | Aju Varghese, Anoop Menon, Ruhani Sharma, Biju Sopanam |
Awards
; Kerala State Awards- Best screenplay for the 2003 serial American Dreams
- Best Socially Committed movie Director - Passenger
- Best Debut director - Passenger
- Best screenplay - Passenger
- Popular film - Pretham
- Special Jury Award for direction - Passenger
- Best Screenplay - Passenger
Best Debut director
; V Santharam Awards
Best Debut director
; Filmfare Awards
Best Director
; SouthScope Awards
Best Director
; Other awards
2009: First Lohithadas Puraskaram for best screenplay