Lenin Rajendran

• Name — Lenin Rajendran • Born — 1951 • Birthplace — Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India • Place of death — Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India • Other Names — Rajendran • Occupation — * Film director • Screenwriter • Years Active — 1981–2019 • Children — 2

Beginning his film-making career as an assistant to director P. A. Backer, Rajendran made his directorial debut with Venal (1982). Although Rajendran mainly worked in independent and serious cinema, his films retained elements of mainstream film production. His works, the last of which was the film Edavappathy (2016), are distinguished by the absence of traditional happy endings. An active member of the Communist party, Rajendran at times integrated his political orientation into his screen work: his 1985 film Meenamasithile Sooryan was about the anti-feudal upheaval of the 1940s in Kerala from a Communist viewpoint. As a CPI(M) nominee, he contested against Shri K. R. Narayanan in Ottapalam in both the 1989 and 1991 Lok Sabha elections. Swathi Thirunal (1987), a period film was a biographical work of a 19th-century king of Travancore, better known as a musical composer. While Daivathinte Vikrithikal (1992) was the cinematic adaptation of M. Mukundan's novel of the same name, Kulam (1997) was a loose adaptation of C. V. Raman Pillai's historical novel Marthandavarma, Mazha (2001) was adapted from Madhavikutty's Nashtapetta Neelambhari. One of his other films, Anyar (2003) deals with the hot topic of communal polarisation in Kerala. His other films are Prem Nazirine Kanmanilla (1983), Puravrutham (1988), and Vachanam (1989). Не was the chairman of Kerala State Film Development Corporation.

Lenin Rajendran died on 14 January 2019 in Apollo Hospital Chennai after a liver transplant, at the age of 67. His body was taken back to his native place, and was cremated with full state honours. He is survived by his wife Dr. Ramani, son Gouthaman and daughter Parvathi.

• Illustration — Director Lenin Rajendran with the cast of the film at Indian Panorama, during presentation on 24.11.2007 at Panji Goa • Year — Title — Cast • 1981 — Venal — Sukumaran, Jalaja • 1982 — Chillu — Venu Nagavalli, Shanthi Krishna • 1983 — Prem Nazirine Kanmanilla — Prem Nazir, Sreenivasan, Maniyanpilla Raju, Vijay Menon • 1985 — Meenamasathile Sooryan — Bharath Gopi, Venu Nagavalli, Vijay Menon, Murali, Ravi, Shobana • 1985 — Mazhakkala Megham • 1987 — Swathi Thirunal — Anant Nag, Ranjini • 1988 — Puravrutham — Om Puri • 1989 — Vachanam — Suresh Gopi, Jayaram, Sithara, Sreevidya, Thilakan, Mamukkoya • 1992 — Daivathinte Vikrithikal — Raghuvaran, Srividya, Thilakan, Vineeth, Sudheesh, Siddique • 1997 — Kulam — Suresh Gopi, Bhanupriya, Vijayaraghavan • 2000 — Mazha — Biju Menon, Lal, Samyuktha Varma, Jagathy Sreekumar, Thilakan, Urmila Unni • 2003 — Anyar — Jyothirmayi, Biju Menon, Lal, Siddique • 2007 — Rathri Mazha — Vineeth, Meera Jasmine, Manoj K. Jayan, Biju Menon, Lalu Alex, Cochin Haneefa • 2010 — Makaramanju — Santosh Sivan, Karthika Nair, Nithya Menon, Lakshmi Sarma • 2016 — Edavappathy — Utthara Unni, Manisha Koirala, Siddhartha • 2017 — Crossroad Segment - Pinpe Nadappaval — Anjana Chandran, Joy Mathew, Sagar