Jayatheertha

Jayathirtha (born 8 May 1977) is an Indian theater activist, social worker and filmmaker. He is a well known director and playwright in Indian theatre world and Kannada films. He is known for his movies Olave Mandara, Tony, Beautiful Manasugalu, and the most recent blockbuster Bell Bottom. He also stands out for his work as a director and playwright, as well as for acting in as many as 4,200 street plays, that were presented with social message regarding various issues.

Jayathirtha B.V.
Born (1977-05-08) 8 May 1977
NationalityIndian
OccupationFilm director
Theater director
Production Design
Known forOlave Mandara
Tony
Beautiful Manasugalu
Bell Bottom
Spouse(s)Poornima H D
ChildrenHithaishi J.

Early Life

Jayathirtha was born and brought up in Bangalore, Karnataka. A high school dropout due to financial constraints, he started working as a salesman at 17 and took up theater as a past time. He trained at Abhinayataranga under the renowned theater personality A. S. Murthy[1] and later started teaching there.

What started as a hobby became a passion. Jayathirtha won several awards for excellence in various aspects of theater – stage design, acting, direction, and script writing. He even won the prestigious B V Karanth Best Stage Reviewer Award (1997) for his critical review of the play, Maranayak.

He has written short stories. His short stories have won Second Best Small Story Award – Gulbarga University (2002), First Place in Short Story Award – Belagali Sahithya Pratistana (2002), First place in Short Story Award – Kannada Sahithya Parishath (2002).

Film Career

Jayathirtha started to train actors for film industry and himself developed an interest in film direction too. His growing interest made him start studying World Cinema in depth. In 2007, he directed a short film called Hasivu (Hunger) which brought him recognition at international forum. The movie won Best Indian Short Film award at Cinerail Film Festival, Paris.

In 2011, he directed a full-fledged Kannada feature film, Olave Mandara which brought several awards including 59th Filmfare Award (Best Director). The sub-plot of Olave Mandara is inspired by the real life events of Dashrath Manjhi who cut a rocky hill for 22 years to build a road in memory of his wife.

Later he directed Tony (2013) which won him Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay[2]. Tony is a philosophical film about a person who wants to make a quick money. Jayathirtha’s philosophical bend drew one of its subplots from Leo Tolstoy’s short story How Much Land Does a Man Need?

Bullet Basya (2015)[3] was a Kannada comedy film and a commercial entertainer.

Beautiful Manasugalu (2017)[4][5] is a story of two innocent lovers who fall prey to media manipulation, and the corrupt system that favors sensationalism over truthful reporting. The story takes an unconventional turn defined by their fight, struggle and the truth. This story is based on the true occurrences that shocked people in 2012.[6]. The movie won Best Dialogues Award at KAFTA Times of India 2017, the only awards given to technicians in Kannada film industry[7].

Vanilla (2018)[8] is a murder mystery with a message of social concern. The story is about Capnophobia, the fear of anything to do with smoke and smoking.

Bell Bottom (2019)[9] is a comedy crime thriller, a story of a die-hard fan of detective stories. His ambition of becoming a famous detective is crushed by his constable father. Forced to join the police department, the unhappy detective's life spiced up by an intriguing case. The story is set in '80s which adds a period dimension to the story. The movie became one of the biggest films in 2019. It became the first Kannada film in 2019 to complete 100 days.[10] It also won the second best commercial film recognition at Bangalore International Film Festival 2020. The movie has won Best Director Award in Critics Choice Film Awards 2020[11].

Jayathirtha has now started shooting for a movie called Banaras on the banks of river Ganga.[12][13]

Theater Activities

Jayathirtha has conducted more than 150 theater training programs, focusing on issues including life skills. He penned and directed 65 street plays and ten stage plays from 1996 to 2007. He organized those plays to spread social awareness among illiterates and the backward classes. Jayathirtha directed Hathim Thi, an experiment with 500 actors, at the Al-ameen school building.

Jayathirtha has used street plays as effective medium to convey philosophical messages, concerning social issues, imbued with entertaining flow. His approach is to involve the audience into the flow of the plays. He scripted six stage plays and 69 street plays/shows, only on social issues.[14]

His ‘Hebbala’ play is an unusual attempt at creating awareness. Produced by Madhyam Communications, in collaboration with a few other voluntary organizations such as K.S. Muddappa Memorial Trust, CATS, and DEED, the play is a unique experiment to create awareness amongst youngsters about proverbs through theater. Built entirely on proverbs, ‘Hebbala’ means a huge banyan tree. It symbolizes the rootedness of proverbs and its potential to include a wide range of human experiences. Written and directed by Jayatheertha, the play consists of three short folk tales woven together using the village singer and story-teller as the link.


Workshops

Jayatheertha has used his immense theater experience and understanding of human behaviors in conducting several workshops for dumb and deaf children, HIV/AIDS patients, teachers, counselors and psychologists. Much of his workshops involve theatrical enactments, story-telling, street plays, and the like.

Some important workshops held and directed by Jayathirtha with prominent organizations were about creating social awareness amongst certain sections of the society. A workshop for a mix of slum children with upper class children held at Chitrakala Parishat to create awareness about child right. A street theater project of Madhyam Intarnational, Vasanthnagar, which was directed by Jayathirtha was on the conservation of old monuments in Hampi. Equally unusual endeavor is a street theater workshop where ex-devadasis were exposed to the nightmares of child marriages.

He worked with more than seventy organization, including Sacred Heart College (MSW Dept. Tamil Nadu.) where he was a guest lecturer for mass communication students, Bangalore Agenda Task Force (Govt. of Karnataka), Ogilvy & Mather (Advertising Company), Global Alliance (Corporate Company), Arvind Mills (Corporate Company), Jindal Plant (Corporate Company), Archeological Survey of India (Govt. of India), Janapada Academy (N.G.O), Myrada Plan at Heggadadevana Kote(N.G.O), Education Development Center (EDC, an N.G.O), Madhyam International (N.G.O) with whom he directed numerous street plays, Accenture (Corporate Company), and Novel (Software Company).


Radio

Jayathirtha directed a 450-episode of educational radio drama for children, Chukki Chinna – Chinnara Chukki, for an NGO Education Development Center under Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana program of Govt. of India. This interactive syllabus-based radio program was recorded between 2005-2007, but it continues to play on radio for first standard to sixth standard students in Karnataka government schools.

Recognition
  • Best Back Stage designer 1994 (Abhinaya Tharanga)
  • Best script writer 1996 (Abhinaya Tharanga)
  • Best stage reviewer 1997 (B.V.Karanth Award)
  • Second Best Small Story Award – from Gulbarga University (2002)
  • First place in small story award – from Belagali Sahithya Pratistana. (2002)
  • First place in small story award – from Kannada Sahithya Parishath. (2002)
  • First place in script writing – Street play – Pravardhini from Sahithya Sankramana (2003)
  • Best Indian short film Hasivu from Cinerail film festival in Paris

Filmography
Year Title Director Writer Notes
2007HasivuShort Film
2011Olave Mandara
2013Tonyalso Lyricist
2015Endendigu
Bullet Basya
2017Beautiful Manasugalu
2018Vanilla
2019Bell Bottom

Awards
MovieAwardCategoryResultRef.
Hasivu Cinerail Film Festival, Paris Best short film (Indian) Won
Olave Mandara 59th Filmfare Awards South Best Director – Kannada Won [15]
Raghavendra Chitravaani Award Best Director Won
'Big FM – ETV' award Best Director Won
Santosham Award Best Director - Kannada Won
1st SIIMA Awards Best Director Nominated [16]
Tony 2013 Karnataka State Film Awards Best Screenplay Won [17]
Lalitha Kala Academy Award Best Director Won
Beautiful Manasugalu 65th Filmfare Awards South Best Director Nominated [18]
KAFTA Times of India 2017 Best Dialogues Won [19]
Bell Bottom Zee Comedy Awards 2020 Best Director Won [20]
Chandanavana Critics' Academy Award Best Screenplay Won
Critics’ Choice Film Awards 2020 Best Director Won [21]
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References
  1. "A S Murthy".
  2. Bansal, Akshay (5 January 2015). "South Cinema Karnataka State Film awards 2013 announced". BollywoodDhamaka.
  3. "Bullet Basya". Sify.com. 28 November 2016.
  4. N., Nishcith (28 November 2016). "A beautiful return for 'Lucia' stars". The New Indian Express.
  5. Mehar, Rakesh (20 January 2017). "Review: 'Beautiful Manasugalu' lets the usual stereotypes drag down a 'women-centric' film". The News Minute.
  6. "Beautiful Manasugalu". Charleston City Paper.
  7. "Presenting the list of awardees for Times KAFTA 2017". The News Minute. 28 October 2018.
  8. "'Beautiful Manasugalu' director Jayathirtha explores Capnophobia in next 'Vanilla'". The New Indian Express. 31 May 2018.
  9. "True-life theft turns inspiration for Rishab Shetty-starrer 'Bell Bottom'". The New Indian Express. 9 February 2019.
  10. "'Bell Bottom is an enjoyable crime comedy'". Deccan Herald. 15 February 2019.
  11. ldate=28 Mar 2020 "Critics' Choice Film Awards 2020: Complete winners list" Check |url= value (help). The Indian Express.
  12. A., Sharadaa (2 January 2020). "Director Jayathirtha covers 64 varanasi ghats for his upcoming films 'Banaras'". The New Indian Express.
  13. "Director Jayathirtha brings in a slice of Banaras with divine music". The New Indian Express. 5 March 2020.
  14. Khajane, Muralidhar (24 March 2016). "Filmmaker takes on big pharma". The Hindu.
  15. Filmfare Editorial (9 July 2012). "59th Idea Filmfare Awards South (Winners list)". Filmfare. Times Internet Limited. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  16. "SIIMA Awards 2012 Winners". South Indian International Movie Awards. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  17. "Karnataka State Film Awards Announced". The Times Of India. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  18. "Winners of the 65th Jio Filmfare Awards (South) 2018". Filmfare. 16 June 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  19. "Presenting the list of awardees for Times KAFTA 2017". The News Minute. 28 October 2018.
  20. "'ಜೀ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕಾಮಿಡಿ ಅವಾರ್ಡ್ಸ್‌' ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಿಂಚಿದ ಸ್ಯಾಂಡಲ್‌ವುಡ್ ತಾರೆಯರು!". Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  21. "Critics' Choice Film Awards 2020: Complete winners list". The Indian Express. 28 March 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
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