Ramchandra P. N.

After graduating from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Ramchandra PN thought he would settle down in Bengaluru.

Over the next ten years starting in 1991, as a freelancer, he directed more than hundred short documentaries for this cultural show, subjects mainly pertaining to his home state of Karnataka – on Gangubai Hanagal, Mallikarjun Mansur, Shivaram Karanth, B.V. Karanth, Vijaynath Shenoy's Hastha Shilpa, the Hampi Ruins, the Hoysala Temples, Mysore Ganjifa, the professional stage actresses of Mariyammanahalli, cock fights, the Electronic tampura, the Lokur Joint family in North Karnataka, the Coastal Buffalo race of Kambala among others.

Ramchandra PN has been residing in Mumbai since 1990. Over the years he gradually ventured into other TV programs, feature films, documentaries and short films in English, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Kutchhi and Tulu languages.

Ten years into doing television, Ramchandra PN found himself in the crossroads of his career for he had not yet made his feature film – the very purpose for which he joined FTII in the first place. Taking advantage of the newly developing digital technology, in the year 2004, with the help of his assistant Surendra Kumar Marnad and friend Mohan Marnad he ventured in producing and directing the first digital feature film in Tulu language called Suddha (The Cleansing Rites). This no-cost film went on to win the Best Indian Film at the 2006 Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab films that was held in New Delhi. In 2007 it won a modest exhibition Grant from the Hubart Balls fund under which Ramchandra PN went around with a mobile projector, a portable screen and a sound system to screen the film in more than 100 places in the remote villages of the Tulu-speaking districts of Coastal Karnataka.

In 2008, he shot his second feature Putaani Party (The Kid Gang) – this time in Kannada language and in the district of Dharwad in North Karnataka. This film was produced by The Children's Film Society of India. This film won the Best Children's film at the 2009 National Film Awards.

Ramchandra PN has completed his third feature Haal E Kangaal, in Hindi language and is screening it in alternative venues all over India.^[1]

Besides, he also conducts academic workshops in various film schools in India like the FTII, Poona & L. V. Prasad Film Institute, Chennai.

• 'Putaani Party' – a Children's film directed by Ramchandra PN has jointly won the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) for the Best Children's Film at the 2009 National Film Awards constituted by the Government of India.
• In 2005, Ramchandra PN made a Tulu language digital feature film called Suddha, also known as The Cleansing Rites.^[3] This film won the Best Indian Film at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema^[4] held at New Delhi. The five members jury had given the award for "its poetic, evocative and uncompromising style reflecting the moods of contemporary India."
• In 2004, his short film Heart Troubles of Ramchand Yavathmal Tirchuinapalli Azamghar won the best short film at the Abuja International Film Festival, Nigeria.

Ramchandra reviews films for Upper Stall ^[18]