Geetu Mohandas, also known as Geethu Mohandas, is an Indian film director and former actress who is now making waves as the director of Yash’s much awaited Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups. What is interesting is that she started off as a child artist before getting into acting, filmmaking and eventually international cinema.
Geetu Mohandas' early life and acting career
Geetu Mohandas was born Gayathri Das on 14th February 1981 in Kerala. At a very young age she entered Malayalam cinema and performed in films like Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare along with Mohanlal. She later played adult roles and appeared in Life Is Beautiful, Akale, Nala Damayanthi, Rappakal, Naalu Pennungal and Akasha Gopuram. The last movie she acted in was Seetha Kalyanam and Nammal Thammil.
How did she become an actress into a movie director?
Geetu eventually moved behind the camera and started her own production company Unplugged in 2009. She began her filmmaking career with the short film Kelkkunnundo which won awards at international film festivals and got a National Film Award. She led Liar's Dice, a Hindi film with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Geetanjali Thapa, which was also an international hit winning awards for the country and became India's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.
Moothon, her second major feature, starring Nivin Pauly, established her reputation as a filmmaker who is able to work with complex subjects and unconventional narratives. The film received a lot of awards and Geetu won the Global Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival for the project.
Geetu Mohandas and Toxic
Geetu’s biggest commercial project so far is Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, with Yash. The film represents a dramatic change in scale from her previous independent films, as she moves from festival cinema to massive multi-language production.
At the Toxic trailer launch, Geetu got emotional when she talked about Yash. She said he was “an emotion” and expressed gratitude for his role in the film and said she would always be indebted to him.
Interestingly, Toxic also reunites Geetu with Nayanthara, who had worked with her around two decades ago when Geetu was still mainly known as an actress. Recently Nayanthara spoke about seeing Geetu's evolution from actor to filmmaker.
Personal Life
Geetu Mohandas married the world-renowned cinematographer and filmmaker Rajeev Ravi whom she met in 2009. They have a daughter called Aradhana. Rajeev Ravi has also been associated with Indian parallel and contemporary cinema with both cinematography and films.
From a child artist to actress and independent filmmaker to the director of one of India’s most eagerly awaited big-budget films, Geetu Mohandas has had a very diverse career. Toxic is an entirely new era for her, putting her vision on a much larger commercial canvas, and she can carry forward the filmmaking experience she developed with Liar’s Dice and Moothon.
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