Kavitha Lankesh

Kavitha Lankesh is a renowned Indian film director, lyricist, and screenwriter for Kannada Film Industry. Her father P. Lankesh was a noted journalist of Kannada Language and also the founder of weekly tabloid Lankesh Pattrike. Her mother owns a sari shop in Bengaluru. Kavitha had come from a family of media publishers. She has two siblings both in the media line. She did a Masters in English from Bengaluru University and also holds a diploma in advertising.

When her father started to plan for her marriage, she was adamant not to get married, and she convinced her parents to use the money that was saved for her marriage, to travel around the world. She owned an advertising company before entering the entertainment industry.

She started out in films by directing several documentaries. Her first documentary is based on a children’s nature camp. She also made documentaries on Bannerghatta National Park, Siddi Tribe. ‘Deeveri’ - a movie based on the short story by P. Lankesh was her debut direction on the big screen. This movie also won several State, National, and International Awards including the National Debut Director Award and International Critics Award. Her second film was ‘Alemarri’. She also wrote the script, screenplay and also directed ‘Bimba’ that was selected to be screened at Bangkok Film Festival. In 2003, she wrote and directed Preethi Prema Pranaya that won the National Award for Best Feature Film and Karnataka State Film Award for Best Story.

In 2006, she reproduced the TV series Malgudi Days Click to look into! >> Read More... that had good reception among audiences and critics. In 2008, she directed ‘Awa’, based on a novel Mussanjeya Katha Prasanga, written by her father and the movie won Karnataka State Film Awards in various categories. She also directed a Tamil film that year, Kadhal Mazhai. Though she had directed less number of movies, her movies were always thought-provoking and morale-based. Some of her other works are Kariya Kan Bitta, tananam tananam. She preferred to live life as a single and is now living with her only daughter, Esha Lankesh.