J C Daniel

Born to Dr N.J. Daniel and Njanambal on 26 th February 1900 in Agasteeswaram Taluk, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, Daniel was a man of multiple talents. He was a prominent part of the Indian film industry and he produced, directed, photographed, edited and acted in various capacities. He is considered the father of Malayalam cinema. He completed his formal education at Maharaja’s College, Trivandrum but even before this, he had published an English book titled “Indian Art of Fencing and Sword Play” in 1915 at the tender age of 15.

From a young age looking at the Madras (now Chennai) and Bombay (now Mumbai) film studios he realized the scope of cinema as an educative medium for the public. At this stage, the common man of Kerala was not even aware of the medium of cinema so this was a challenge in itself. To learn the techniques of filmmaking and obtain the required equipment Daniel left for Madras (a budding centre of cinema in South India) but was denied entry. Next, he went to Bombay and there claiming that he was a teacher looking to teach about the Indian cinema industry he was given entry. After gathering all the information, he returned to Kerala and established the first film studio here in 1926 known as The Travancore National Pictures. This point brought upon a new age in the Malayalam cinema industry and set the budding stones for cinematographically and story-driven realistic stories.

Daniel soon started the work on his first film titled “Vigathakumaran” which was a silent film in which the maximum work was done by Daniel himself. The movie was not well received by the local audiences because of their orthodox thoughts regarding the storyline and the casting of a woman. Since the movie was not a commercial success, Daniel had to sell his equipment and close the studio to pay his debtors and he incurred a lot of debt personally. The rest of his life was spent as a dentist in Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu. He applied for a pension under the ailing artist’s scheme but was rejected by the Kerala Government stating he was born in Tamil Nadu. It was noted filmmaker Chelangatt Gopalakrishnan who got Daniel the recognition he deserved and the Department of Cultural Affairs of Kerala instituted the J.C. Daniel Award in his honour, to honour lifetime achievements in outstanding contributions to Malayalam cinema.