John Sankaramangalam

It is not every day that a great director is born, and so 15th July, the birth of John Sankaramangalam must have been a special day. John is known for his exceptional contribution to the Telugu Film Industry as a director, as a teacher, a Filmmaker and also a recipient of several awards. John Sankaramangalam completed his schooling from St. John’s school. He did his graduation from St. Berchman college and had gone to Madras Christian College for his higher studies. Later he began to work at MCC as a teacher.

He had been married to Mrryammma John and had two children- Sudarshan and Annie John. John started his film career by learning screenwriting and direction at FTII, Pune in,1992. His first step into this beautiful world of cinema was with writing a screen play for a film called ‘Jaysreel.’ John’s debut as a director was with the movie ‘Janmabhoomi’ that was released in 1969.

This Malayalam movie was exceptionally good and received numerous awards like the first Nagris Dutt award for the Best Feature Film and also an award for cinematography. Being the teacher, he was, John directed a movie called ‘Samadhi’ for his cinematography student which, has also been appreciated in the Industry. It has also won the Rajat kamal’s awards for the Best Experimental Film.

Some of the other movies which are directed by him fall into the category of a feature film. The movies of that kind are- ‘Avalalppam Vaikippoyi’(released in the year 1971), and ‘Samantharam(released in the year 1985). John has been the director of the Film and Television Institute of Pune. Later, he also became the principal and chairman of St. Joseph’s College of Communication in Changanacheery.

He has also contributed around 12 documentaries to the State Government. This legend has been a part of the Kerela Chalachitra Academy as its Vice-Chairman and also been the jury member of the International Film Festival. John, a praiseworthy screenwriter, notable director, and an inspirational teacher, took his last breath at the age of 84 on 30th July 2018. His contribution to the industry will always be remembered and appreciated.