Liju Krishna is an Indian scriptwriter, filmmaker, and film director, who predominantly works in the Malayalam entertainment industry.
Wiki/Biography
Liju Krishna was born on Sunday, 23 February 1992 (age 30 years; as of 2022), and he hails from Maloor, Kannur, Kerala. His zodiac sign is Pisces. He did his schooling at Mambaram Higher Secondary School, Mambaram, Kerala. He attended the School of Drama & Fine Arts, University of Calicut, Thrissur, Kerala, where pursued a Bachelor of Theatre Arts and Master of Theatre Arts. He also earned a Diploma in Design & Digital Film Making from Image College of Arts, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Family
His father’s name is V Balakrishnan, and his mother’s name is PV Radhamani.
Relationships/Affairs
Allegedly, Liju Krishna was in a romantic relationship with the film crew member whom he was accused of raping in 2022. Liju made acquaintance with the woman via social media and was in a live-in relationship with her. The Facebook page of Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) featured the testimony of the rape victim, which stated that the crew member got pregnant in January 2021, but she suffered a miscarriage due to the continuing sexual violence.
Career
Liju Krishna is the founder and artistic director of Saga Entertainment, a Thrissur-based cultural group that he founded in 2013 while attending the School of Drama & Fine Arts. The group was formed by young students of theatrical arts with the objective of creating innovative content in theatre and films in Kerala. He started his journey as a scriptwriter and director with the indie short film titled ‘Photogenic’ (2012). The film went on to earn numerous awards at National Short Film and Documentary Festival (2013).
In 2014, Liju came into the limelight when he designed, wrote, and directed the Malayalam play ‘Moment Just Before Death.’ A theatrical production of Saga Entertainment and Sunny Wayne Productions, the play premiered at JT Pac in Tripunithura, Kochi. The play showcases the memories of a dying man with the aspect to portray Northern Kerala’s traditions and life in a contemporary light. Lack of intimate theatrical spaces (like a black box) made it difficult to host the play convincingly across Kerala. Despite the lack of infrastructure, the 75-minute-long play was presented at numerous festivals including the eighth Theatre Olympics and Indie Best Film Festival (Ibestff) in 2018. The play bagged nominations in six categories and won two awards, in the category of Best Actor and Best Designer, at the 2014 Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META).
In June 2017, he released another independent Malayalam short film ‘Ima,’ which was produced by Saga Entertainment and featured the veteran actor Pratap Pothen. The critically acclaimed short film narrates the story of a middle-aged couple, Madhavan and Radhu.
Liju Krishna made his directorial debut in Mollywood with the 2022 political drama film ‘Padavettu,’ starring the Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly. He is also the scriptwriter of the film. In 2022, when ‘Padavettu’ was still in post production Liju was taken into custody by the police for alleged rape.
Controversy
On 6 March 2022, Liju Krishna was arrested in Kannur, Kerala, after being accused of rape by a crew member of Liju’s film ‘Padavettu.’ Reportedly, the director assaulted the woman on numerous occasions over the period of six months, starting from 21 June 2020, before she finally decided to lodge a complaint. Following a complaint filed by a woman at the Infopark police station in Kakkanad, the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) demanded that Liju Krishna should be barred from the film industry until the verdict. On 8 March 2022, the police disclosed that Liju Krishna had incriminated himself during the preliminary interrogation.
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- Received the Young Artist Award 2011-12 from the Ministry of Culture
- Won Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award (2014) in the category of Best Stage Design for the play ‘Moment Just Before Death’
Liju Krishna receiving Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award (2014)
- Received a memento in 2015 from Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi / International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFOK) for the play ‘Moment Just Before Death’
Liju Krishna receiving a memento from Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akkademi International Theatre Festival Of Kerala (ITFOK) in 2015
- Received a memento from Government of Kerala—Department of Information – Public Relations at National Theatre Festival for the play ‘Moment Just Before Death’ in 2015
Liju Krishna receiving a memento from the Government of Kerala—Department of Information – Public Relations at the National Theatre Festival for the play ‘Moment Just Before Death’ in 2015
Favourites
- Musician: Balabhaskar (violinist)
- Filmmaker(s): K. G. George, Satyajit Ray
- Actor: Rishi Kapoor
- Folk Singer: C. J. Kuttappan
Facts/Trivia
- In an interview, while talking about his equal pursuance in the field of film and theatre, he said,
Cinema and theatre have two languages, and when you understand both you grow stronger in your creative capacities.”
- After completing his higher studies, the director returned to his native place and cast around a thousand denizens of Maloor in his debut film, Padavettu (2022). He also provided the junior artists six months of acting training in Maloor. Some of them also used their own clothes as costumes for the film.
