G. V. Iyer

G. V. Iyer
Image of G. V. Iyer
Born	1917 Nanjanagud, Mysore
Died	2003 (aged 85–86) Mumbai
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Ganapathi Venkatrama Iyer
Citizenship	IND
Occupation	Actor, Director
Known for	Sanskrit film direction
Notable work(s)	Adi Shankaracharya (1983),Bhagavad Gita (1993), Swami Vivekananda (1998)

Ganapathi Venkatrama Iyer (Kannada:ಗಣಪತಿ ವೆಂಕಟನಾರಾಯಣ ಅಯ್ಯರ್ ) (known as G. V. Iyer) (1917 - December 21, 2003) was a well known Indian film director and actor. He was nicknamed "Kannada Bheeshma", and was the only person who made movies in Sanskrit, Adi Shankaracharya (1983) and which won four National Film Award, including Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Audiography.^[2]^[3]. His films were well-known for their spiritual themes. He was born in 1917 in Nanjanagud in Mysore district of Karnataka state in South India. His most critically acclaimed film was Bhagavad Gita (1993) (1993), which won the National Film Award for Best Film and was nominated for Best Film at the Bogotá Film Festival.

Career

A scene from Iyer's 1983 film Adi Shankaracharya

He started his career at the age of eight when he joined the Gubbi Veeranna theatre group. His first role as an actor in cinema was in the film Radharamana. Besides this he acted in a number of other movies such as Mahakavi Kalidasa, Sodhari, Hemavati, Hari Bhaktha and Bedara Kannapa.

He soon started directing his own movies. The movie Hamsageethe (music by Dr. Balamuralikrishna, B. V. Karanth and T.G. Lingappa) was extremely well received and made him famous. Iyer wrote scripts, lyrics and produced and directed many commercial Kannada movies. Iyer’s biggest effort was Ranadheera Kanteerava. He continued making commercial movies until 1970.

He was proficient in both Kannada and Sanskrit and was soon to make the first movie in Sanskrit, about the famous philosopher Adi Shankara (1983). The movie received the National Film Awardsfor Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Audiography and has been known as a master piece. It is believed that the movie made a great impact on Iyer. It was remarked that he stopped wearing footwear after making the movie.

He later went on to make a movie on Madhvacharya in Kannada and Ramanujacharya in Tamil. He also made a remarkable Sanskrit movie Bhagavad Gita (1993), which won Best Film at theNational Film Awards of 1993.^[5] The film was also nominated for Best Film at the Bogotá Film Festival.

He also produced a television series Natyarani Shanthala , a historical, on the Hoysala Jain queen Shanthala, who was married to a Vaishnava King. It was re-made in Hindi as well as in Kannada. It was based on several works by Samethanahalli Rama Rao in Kannada.

He later went on to make a movie Swami Vivekananda. It was an attempt to portray Swami Vivekananda, realistically. Though it had many famous actors such as Mithun Chakraborty, Hema Maliniand Sarvadaman Banerjee, the movie failed to become a commercial success.

He was planning a film based on the Hindu epic Ramayana, with Sanjay Dutt playing the role of Ravana, before his sudden death on December 21 2003 at the age of 87. His last rites took place at his Bharadhwaja Ashrama, near Dodda Aladamara, on the outskirts of Bangalore, near Kengeri.