Deedi Damodaran

Named after the Brazilian football star ‘Didi’(Waldyr Pereira), Deedi Damodaran is a scriptwriter in the Malayalam film industry, interestingly, the first female scriptwriter in Malayalam cinema. Born as the eldest daughter of celebrity screenwriter of Malayalam cinema industry, T. Damodaran, Deedi Damodaran is a film critic, teacher, and screenwriter and a film enthusiast.

She was brought up in Kozhikode. Growing up, she got influenced by her father, whom she sometimes assisted in his work of scriptwriting by taking down dictations. Following her father, she became a teacher and has been teaching at the Applied Media School in Kozhikode. As can be predicted from the environment she was brought up in; she is a hardcore film enthusiast. She has been following all the movies of the Malayalam industry. In all probability, she is the only woman writer to cover eight International Film Festivals of India.

While working on her doctoral thesis, Deedi, a believer of gender equality, felt that in the contemporary film scenario, women are projected in a light as perceived by men in accordance with their fears and desires. With a fierce desire to fix this, she decided to become a screenwriter. She had a strong hold in the field owing to her childhood experiences. She has written scripts for ‘Gulmohur,’ ‘Makal in Kerala kafe,’ and the critically acclaimed film ‘ Nayika Story soon >> Read More... .’ She has been noticed for the panache in her writing, especially the bold and concrete female characters as opposed to what has been the trend in the film industry. Deedi is totally against the films, filmmakers, and the actors who are a part of the movies that portray misogyny and glorify it for monetary profits. Her efforts are aimed at thwarting the on-screen misogyny with thoughtful writing and making use of strong female characters. Deedi had been diagnosed with cancer, while she had been working on the script of her first film ‘Gulmohur.’ She had to undergo chemotherapy, and get her hair shaved, and eventually recovered.

After this experience, she joined various support groups for people suffering from the deadly disease and got involved in campaigns aimed at spreading awareness among the people. Deedi is also activist and has been working on social issues affecting the masses. She had been a part of the widespread protests against moral policing in the country. Deedi has expressed that she would like to make a film that brings to light the ordeals faced by the common man when dealing with the bureaucracy.

Deedi Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)