Jayabalan

V.I.S. Jayapalan is a writer of Indian origin. He is also a well-known political commentator and an actor who has acted in Tamil films. Born in Uduvil district of Jaffna in Sri Lanka, he gained a degree in Economics from the University of Jaffna and also was the leader of the student union there. His first anthology was published in 1986. After that he went on to publish 12 anthologies of poetry and short fiction.

Due to the escalation of Sri Lankan civil war, he moved to Oslo, Norway, and also became a Nowegian citizen, but he did not leave his passion for arts and literature. He moved back and forth to Tamil Nadu in South India to continue his work. His acting debut was Vetrimaaran’s film “Aadukalam”, which won a National Film Award.

Jayapalan says that he could easily relate to the character that he played in the movie. After seeing his film, all the top directors of Tamil cinema like Bharathiraja, Mysskin, Sasikumar and Samuthirakani praised his work, which was very encouraging for him. He had been a great admirer of Malayalam, Bengali and Sinhalese movies of the 70s and early 80s and had great respect for the late Aravindan and his style of filmmaking.

His expressions and body language depicted a new kind of villainy; therefore the critics lauded him. He was presented with thorough appreciation, including the special jury award in 2011, and also with nominations for his acting at the renowned Filmfare Awards and also at Vijay Awards.

He did not confine his talent just to India. He was awarded as the best immigrant writer by the Norwegian Writers’ Association and his poetry was translated into English, Norwegian as well as into Sinhala. His poems were translated in English and and published as a book named ‘Wilting Laughter’. It became one of the best-selling books in Canada. He was more inclined towards literature and did not have much interest in acting, but after completing his first film, he enjoyed it. But still, he did not accept all the offers that came to him after the success of his first film. His ideology and motto in life are simple: "Eelam is my political motherland and India is my cultural homeland."