P Venu

P Venu, full name Pattathil Venugopalan Menon, was born on November 8, 1940 in Purannatukara, Thrissur, British India. By profession, he was a producer, writer, lyricist and film director. He died on May 25, 2011 at the of 70 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

His work is quite influential and in Malayalam Cinema. He has worked for over 40 years. His most popular venture in investigative genre was “C.I.D. Nazir” in the year 1971 which revolutionized the Malayalam cinema. The sequels of the movie were “Taxi Car” in the year 1972 and “Prethangulade Thazhvara” in the year 1973 which were appreciated both critically and commercially. Between the late 60’s and 90’s, he worked on various films and after that he took a break to spend some time with his friends and family. If we talk about is early life and childhood, he was the eldest and had 2 more siblings named Ammaniamma and Madhav Kurup.

Since childhood, he wanted to do something in the field of cinema, so he joined Merryland Studio situated at Trivandrum, Kerala. There he worked as an assistant director until his directional debut “Udhyogastha” was released in the year 1967. In the year 1972, he got married to Sasekala and the couple gave birth to Vijay Menon Vijay Menon is an eminent Malayalam actor. He acte >> Read More... , who is a creative consultant, writer, freelancer, and filmmaker and a daughter named Sridevi who is a professor and currently settled in Canada with her family. His most popular venture was “Parinamam” released in the year 2003 (an NFDC Film) which mainly focused on the old age issues of dismissal and loneliness. This film was recently screened at Indian Film Festival held in Budapest on the occasion of completion of 100 years of Indian Cinema (7-12 February, 2014). It was also showcased at various international film festivals. In the year 2003, it won the “Best Screenplay Award’ at Israel in a film festival named “Ashdod International Film Festival.”

He was also declared as “Kala Pratibha” or the “Icon of Creative Arts” by the “Kerala Film Critics Association” in the year 2005. He also used to work for Malayalam Cine Technicians Associations or MACTA for quite a long time. In the year 2010, he published his own book written on the basis of his experiences while working in the film industry named “Udyogastha Muthal.” He died on May 25, 2011 due to cardiac arrest. At Cheruthuruthy, his dead remains were burnt on the banks of river Bharathapuzha, Kerala.