Jayaraj

During his stay at Thiruvananthapuram, he attended film festivals including the International Film Festival of Kerala and watched many world classics.^[1] Kurosawa's Rashomon and DeSica's Bicycle Thieves were among them, and they influenced him immensely.^[2]

Film director Bharathan was impressed by Jayaraj and made him his assistant director for Chilambu (1986). Jayaraj then went on to be the assistant to Bharathan in six more films including the critically acclaimed Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam (1987) and Vaishali (1988). Jayaraj debuted as director with Vidyarambham (1990). His early career mainly produced commercially oriented films like Aakasha Kottayile Sultan (1991), Johnnie Walker (1992), High Way (1995), Thumboli Kadappuram (1995) and Arabia (1995).^{[citation needed]}

Notable in his early career were Kudumbasametham (1992), Paithrukam (1993) and Sopanam (1993). Desadanam (1997) was followed by Kaliyattam (1997) which was an adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. It won him the National Film Award for Best Direction.

In 1999 Jayaraj started his nine-film series project Navarasa with Karunam, followed by Shantham (2001). Shantham won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. The third in the Navarasa series was Bheebhatsa, a Hindi film followed by Adbutham and Veeram. In 2018, the sixth film in the series Bhayanakam was released and had won awards for Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography at the 2017 National Film Awards. On 10 June 2019, Tovino Thomas officially announced and shared the poster of Roudram 2018, the seventh film in the series. While sharing the poster on Facebook Tovino wrote, "The movie is based on real-life incidents that occurred in central Travancore, during the devastating floods that Kerala survived. Roudram 2018 portrays the tempestuous ferocity of nature, and the utter helplessness of humankind before that might."^{[citation needed]}

Of late he has been doing commercial and art films and is successful in both genres. While Thilakkam (2003) and 4 The People (2004) were huge commercial successes Kannaki (2002), Makalkku (2005), Daivanamathil (2005) and Ottaal (2015) were critically acclaimed. Ottaal made history, becoming the first ever Malayalam movie to have swept all the top awards in the 20-year history of the International Film Festival of Kerala. The film was one of four Malayalam films selected to be a part of the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India in Goa in November 2015.^{[citation needed]}

In an earnest effort towards conserving nature and strengthening people's welfare, Jayaraj founded the Jayaraj Foundation in 2010 and officially launched it on 6 June 2014. World Organisation of Hope's (WOH) ambitious programme SMART (Sports, Music, Art and Recreation Therapy (Yoga and Meditation)) and Birds Club International are the two projects initiated by the foundation.^{[citation needed][3]}

World Organisation of Hope (WOH) is an organisation aimed at building children's awareness of their rights and to protect them. The programme SMART [Sports, Music, Art and Recreation Therapy (Yoga and Meditation)] is an offshoot of WOH. It supports children and adolescents in their own struggle to secure and defend their dreams.^{[citation needed]}

Birds Club International (BCI) aims at creating miniature rain forests in schools and colleges, to make a better environment both for birds and humans. It plans to bring together the future generation and integrating more of society towards nature conservation activities. Several units of BCI have been started in many schools and colleges in Kerala, with the help of the Government of Kerala, to achieve this.^{[citation needed]}

International awards

National Film Awards

• 1996 : Best Feature Film in Malayalam - Desadanam
• 1997 : Best Director - Kaliyattam
• 2001 : Best Film - Shantham
• 2005 : Best Film on National Integration - Daivanamathil
• 2007 : Best Non-Feature Film Direction - Vellapokkathil (The Deluge)
• 2014 : Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation - Ottaal
• 2017 : Best Director - Bhayanakam
• 2017 : Best Adapted Screenplay - Bhayanakam
• 2017 : Special Jury mention - Rebirth

Kerala State Film Awards

• 1992 : Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Film - Kudumbasametham
• 1996 : Kerala State Film Award for Best Director - Deshadanam
• 1997 : Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value - Kaliyattam
• 1999 : Kerala State Film Award for Best Film - Karunam
• 2015 : Kerala State Film Award for Best Film - Ottaal

Filmfare Awards South

• 1997 : Best Director : Kaliyattam
• 2000 : Best Director : Karunam
• 2000 : Best Film - Malayalam  : Karunam

V. Shantharam Awards

• 1997 : Kaliyattam
• 2001 : Shantham

John Abraham Awards

• 2000 : Karunam
• 2012 : Vellapokkathil

Asianet Film Awards

• 2002: Asianet Film Award for Best Director for Kannaki

Ramu Karyatt Awards

• 1996 : Desadanam

P. Padmarajan Awards

• 1996 : Desadanam
• 2000 : Karunam