T V Chandran

T. V. Chandran was born in Thalassery, Malabar District, Madras Presidency, the present day Kannur District, Kerala, to Narayanan Nambiar and Karthyayini Amma. After graduating with a degree from Christ College, Irinjalakuda,[2] and a post graduation from Farook College, University of Calicut, he embarked on a career as a Reserve Bank of India employee before starting his film career. In his college days, Chandran was sympathetic to naxalite ideology and was closely associated with the Communist Party.

Chandran's son Yadavan and brother Soman are also fimmakers. Yadavan has directed docu-films and has assisted Chandran in many of his films. Soman is working an assistant with Chandran right from his first film.[5][6] Chandran's attachment with his other brother, who died in Nigeria in the 1980s, later inspired the film Sankaranum Mohananum.

Chandran debuted as a director with Krishnan Kutty (1981). A critical and commercial failure, this experimental film did not even had a wide public release. The film represents a continuation of P. A. Backer's style of independent film. Chandran's next venture was the Tamil feature film Hemavin Kadhalargal (1985).

This film had Delhi Ganesh and Anuradha in the lead roles. The film marked the debut of the latter, who dominated the Tamil cinema for quite a long time. Though Hemavin Kadhalargal was a commercial success and garnered favourable reviews, Chandran got his much needed break only with his third venture Alicinte Anveshanam (1989). A mystery film by genre, it narrated the journey of a lady in search of her missing husband. It was the official entry from India for the Locarno International Film Festival, and got a nomination for the Golden Leopard.