M. S. Sathyu


Mysore Shrinivas Sathyu is a film director, stage designer and art director from India. He is best known for his directorial Garm Hava, which was based on the partition of India. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1975.

Early and personal life

Born into a Kannada family, Sathyu grew up in Mysore. He pursued his higher education at Mysore and later Bangalore. In 1952, he quit college while working on his Bachelor of Science degree. Sathyu is married to Shama Zaidi, a north Indian Shia Muslim. They have two daughters.

Career

He freelanced as an animator in 1952–53. After being unemployed for nearly four years, he got his first salaried job as assistant director to filmmaker Chetan Anand.He worked in theatre as a designer and director, including designing sets and lights for productions of Hindustani Theatre, Okhla Theatre of Habib Tanvir, Kannada Bharati and other groups of Delhi. In films, he has worked as an art director, camera-man, screenwriter, producer and director. His first film. His fas an independent Art director or Haqeeqat, a film by Chetan Anand, which won him recognition and the 1965 Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction. His filmography includes over 15 documentaries and 8 feature films in Hindi, Urdu and Kannada.
His best known work, Garm Hava, is one of the last cinema productions featuring 1950s Marxist cultural activists including Balraj Sahni and Kaifi Azmi. Garm Hava won several Indian national awards in 1974, including a National Integration Award. It was screened in the competitive section at Cannes and was also the Indian entry at the Oscars. It won the Filmfare award for best screenplay.
M. S. Sathyu currently is associated mainly with television and stage. In 2013, Sathyu featured in the popular Google Reunion ad, where he played the role of Yusuf, an elderly Pakistani man who is reunited with his childhood pre-partition friend from India, Baldev. The commercial went viral on social media. Sathyu is one of the patrons of Indian People's Theatre Association. He directed musical play Gul E Bakavali written by Sudheer Attavar; represented 8th World Theatre Olympics in year 2018. He also directed plays like 'Dara Shikoh', Amrita, Bakri, Kuri, Akhri Shama and many more. In 2014, his debut film, Garm Hava was re-released after restoration.

Awards

Production

Theatre plays

Films

Feature Films
Short films and Documentaries
  • Irshad
  • Black Mountain
  • Ghalib
  • Islam in India

Television

TV serials
  • Pratidhwani 1985
  • Choli Daaman 1987–88
  • Kayar 1992
  • Antim Raja 1986
Tele-films
  • Aangan
  • Ek Hadsa Char Pehlu
  • Thangam
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