Shyamaprasad

Shyamaprasad was born on 7 November 1960 at Palakkad, as the younger son of O. Rajagopal and Santhakumari. He was named after Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder of Bharatiya Jan Sangh.

He did his schooling at Basel Evangelical Mission Higher Secondary School, Palakkad. After completing his degree in Theatre Arts from the School of Drama and Fine Arts, Thrissur, Calicut University, Shyamaprasad received the Commonwealth Scholarship in 1989 and did his Master in Media Production at the Hull University, England. He worked as an intern at the BBC and Channel 4, to Indian television and redefined the parameters of telefilms and documentaries in Malayalam Television with Doordarshan. He serves as the President (Programming) at Amrita TV.

His features for TV and cinema have won him several national and state awards namely Agnisakshi and Akale, produced by Tom George Kolath, had been adjudged the best regional cinema films of the nation in 1998 and 2004.

For television, he has adapted the works of Anton Chekhov (Vivahalochana); Albert Camus (The Just); Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (Viswavikhyathamaya Mookku); Madhavikkutty (Venalinte Ozhivu); N Mohanan (Peruvazhiyile Kariyilakal); Sarah Joseph (Nilavariyunnu), N. P. Mohammed (Ullurukkam) and K. Radhakrishnan (Shamanathalam). He was awarded the Best Television Director prize for the year 1993, 1994 and 1996.

Shyamaprasad had been invited to serve twice as the jury of the National Film Awards. His 2007 production Ore Kadal, based on a Bengali novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay, was chosen as the inaugural film of the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India 2007.

His film Ritu (Seasons) released in early August 2009 is seen by one reporter as the 'coming of age' of Malayalam cinema.

He won the Best Director prize of the fiercely contested Kerala State Film Awards 5 times- namely for his films Agnisakshi, Akale, Elektra, Artist and Oru Njayarazhcha.