Early life and education

Santosh was born into a family of artists. His grandmother used to teach him painting and music in the palace and as a kid he accompanied her to the palace. These visits gave him an opportunity to become familiar with the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, a nineteenth-century Indian painter whose renowned works were themes from Hindu mythology, and everyday life of his times. He graduated from Loyola School, Thiruvananthapuram.

His grandmother often narrated the mythological stories of the themes of these paintings, where in the postures, colours guided the imagination. This turned out to be his very first visual education ( later he made some of these into celluloid and also acted as "Raja Ravi Varma" in a feature! ).

His father used to make documentaries and during holidays he would excitedly, volunteer to help. These trips were very interesting. He loved sketching with charcoal, and was fascinated by details that you observe when you want to sketch. During these travels to remote areas in South India, He was fortunate to listen folklore's and stories of people of the land. He is the younger brother of filmmaker Sangeeth Sivan and elder brother of Sanjeev Sivan. The trio are the sons of the well known cinematographer and director Sivan.

Career

Santosh, a founder member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers and the most awarded Director of Photography in India, graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and went on to completing 45 features and 41 documentaries.

He was awarded the National Award for best Cinematographer for the films Perumthachan (Malayalam/1991), Kalapani (Malayalam / 1996), Mohiniyattam (Malayalam / 1991), Iruvar (Tamil/1998) and Dil Se.. (Hindi/1999).

Santosh was honoured by the Japanese Society of Cinematographers and has been on the Jury for the Busan Film Festival. He is a "mentor" to students for Mira Nair's "Maisha Film Lab: in Uganda and is a director to the Sivan Foundation of photography. He was also a governing council member at the Pune Film Institute.

As a director, Santosh won his first National Award in 1988 for the film Story of Tiblu (1988). His film Halo was honoured at the 43rd National Film Awards as the Best Childrens' Film and Best Sound.

Late 1999s and present

Santosh received worldwide accolades for The Terrorist (presented by John Malkovich), which won the Best Director, Best Actress Awards and the Golden Pyramid Award for The Best Film at the 23rd Cairo International Film Festival. It was awarded the National Award (1999) for The Best Tamil Film and was an Official Selection at the Sundance, Seattle and Toronto Film Festivals of that year. The film was also listed in Roger Ebert's 100 Best Films (1999). the film was Quoted as being "a film scripted by the camera"

Following the success of The Terrorist, Santosh's film MALLI won the National Award for Best Environmental Film in India (2000), the National Award in India for Best Child Artist (2000) and was honoured at the 18th International Festival of Film for Children in Poznan, Poland where it won the Poznan Goat for Best Director, Best Child Actress & Best Music and the Best Film-Audience Award at the Indian Film Festival|Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles in Los Angeles.

Santosh's subsequent films include ASOKA, which screened at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals (2001) and Navarasa, which won the National Award for Best Tamil Film (2004) and the Monaco Award for Best Film & Best Supporting Actor awarded at the Lyons Film Festival. The latter also participated in the Pusan and Rotterdam Film Festivals. His debut Malayalam Language film as director, Anandabhadram (2005), went on to win several State Awards, including Best Director & Best Cinematographer. Santosh has worked as the Cinematographer in Gurinder Chadha's Bride & Prejudice (2004) and Paul Mayeda Berges' The Mistress of Spices (2005).

Santosh directed Before the Rains which is premiered as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival (2007). In addition, his short film PRARAMBHA, which was created for the Bill and Melinda Gates AIDS Foundation, also premiered at the Mavericks section of the Festival. It won the National Awards 2007 for Best Producer and Best Director in the Educational and Motivational Film category.

His film, Tahaan, won a High Commendation in Children's Feature Film section at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards and UNICEF Award at 11th Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People in 2008 held at Greece. Tahaan won "The German Star of India award" at "Bollywood and Beyond" festival at Stuttgart Germany in 2009.

His latest Malayalam film, Urumi (2011) was screened at the Indian Panorama of the International Film Festival of India to be held in Goa 2012, to Busan and NHK film festivals. He was also the cinematographer for the Tamil movie Thuppakki, starring Vijay & directed by AR Murugadoss.

Documentary

Santosh's documentary Farmers Portrait is near completion. He makes films on health and environment issues, like the Polio campaign with Amitabh Bachchan.

His 2007 release, Prarambha won the National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film at the 55th National Film Awards. The film dealt with the stigma attached to an HIV + person. It dealt with a little boy who had been ostracised from school only because he is diagnosed with HIV. This film highlighted the plight of the boy and highlighted the ignorance of the society towards this virus. It dealt with the myths surrounding HIV and aimed at educating the masses through an entertaining story weaved around the little boy. This was produced by the Bill and Melinda Gates Aids foundation and was shot entirely in Mysore.

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Director	Producer	cinematographer	Writer	Notes
1986	Nidhiyude Katha			Yes		Debut in Malayalam cinema.
1986	Oru Maymasa Pulariyil			Yes
1988	Story of Tiblu	Yes				National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film
1988	Kandathum Kettathum			Yes
1989	New Year			Yes
1989	Raakh			Yes		Debut in Hindi cinema.
1989	Varthmaanakaalam			Yes
1990	Dr. Pasupathy			Yes
1990	Midhya			Yes
1990	Sunday 7 PM			Yes
1990	Indrajaalam			Yes
1990	Perumthachan			Yes
1991	Thalapathi			Yes		Debut in Tamil cinema.
1992	Roja			Yes
1992	Aham			Yes
1992	Yodha			Yes
1993	Gandharvam			Yes
1994	Pavithram			Yes
1995	Nirnayam			Yes
1995	Barsaat			Yes
1995	Indira (film)			Yes
1996	Kalapani			Yes
1996	Halo	Yes		Yes	Yes	National Film Award for Best Children's Film
1997	Iruvar			Yes		National Film Award for Best Cinematography
1997	Darmiyan			Yes
1998	Dil Se..			Yes
1998	The Terrorist	Yes			Yes	National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.
1998	Malli	Yes		Yes		National Film Award for Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation.
1998	Kuch Kuch Hota Hai			Yes
2000	Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani			Yes
2000	Pukar			Yes
2001	Asoka	Yes		Yes	Yes	IFFA Best Cinematographer Award Hindi Film
2003	Tehzeeb			Yes
2004	Aparichithan			Yes
2004	Bride and Prejudice			Yes
2004	Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities			Yes
2005	Anandabhadram	Yes		Yes
2005	Navarasa	Yes		Yes	Yes	National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.
2005	The Mistress of Spices			Yes
2007	Prarambha	Yes				Short film for AIDS awareness campaign National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film
2008	Tahaan	Yes			Yes	Best feature film award, CIFEJ Award (Centre International du Film pour l' Enfant et la Jeunesse) UNICEF Award at 11th Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People in 2008 held at Greece Hindi Film
2010	Raavan			Yes
2010	Raavanan			Yes
2011	Urumi (August Cinema)	Yes	Yes	Yes		Best Director at the Imagineindia International Film Festival Madrid
2011	Indian Rupee (August Cinema)		Yes
2012	Thuppakki			Yes
2013	Rangrezz			Yes
2013	Ceylon	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2013	Kadal Kadannu Oru Maathukutty(August Cinema)		Yes
2014	Inam	Yes		Yes
2014	Anjaan			Yes
2014	Sapthamashree Thaskaraha(August Cinema)		Yes
2015	Double Barrel(August Cinema)		Yes
2016 Lies We Tell, english language film				Yes

As actor

Year	Film	Role
2011	Makaramanju	Raja Ravi Varma
2012	Thuppakki	Special appearance in the song "Google Google"

Awards

From	Award	Notes
Civilian honours	Padma Shri

National Film Awards

Year	Film	Language	Category	Notes
1988	Story of Tiblu	English	National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film	Short film director
1991	Perumthachan	Malayalam	National Film Award for Best Cinematography
1991	Mohiniyattam	Malayalam	National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Cinematography	Short film
1996	Kalapani	Malayalam	National Film Award for Best Cinematography
1996	Halo	Hindi	National Film Award for Best Children's Film	Director
1998	The Terrorist	Tamil	National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil	Director
1998	Malli	Tamil	National Film Award for Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation	Director
1998	Iruvar	Tamil	National Film Award for Best Cinematography
1999	Dil Se..	Hindi	National Film Award for Best Cinematography
2004	Navarasa	Tamil	National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil	Director
2008	Prarambha	Kannada	National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film	Short film
2011	Indian Rupee	Malayalam	National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam	Co-producer

Kerala State Film Awards

• 1992 - Aham - Best Cinematography (Colour)
• 1996 - Kalapani - Best Cinematography
• 2005 - Anandabhadram - Best Cinematography
• 1994 - Pavithram-best cinematography

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

• 1992 - Roja - Best Cinematography
• 1996 - Indira - Best Cinematography

Filmfare Awards

• 1999 - Dil Se.. - Best Cinematography
• 2001 - Halo - Critics Award for Best Movie
• 2002 - Asoka - Best Cinematography

Filmfare Awards South

• 1998 - Iruvar - Best Cinematographer - South

IIFA Awards

• 2002 - Asoka - IFFA Best Cinematographer Award

Star Screen Awards

• 2005 - Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities - Best Cinematography

Zee Cine Awards

• 2005 - Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities - Best Cinematography

International

Won:

• 1998 - The Terrorist- Best Director at Cairo International Film Festival
• 1998 - The Terrorist- Golden Pyramid at Cairo International Film Festival
• 1999 - Malli - Adult's Jury Award for Feature Film and Video (2nd Place) at Chicago International Film Festival
• 1999 - The Terrorist - Grand Jury Prize at Cinemanila International Film Festival
• 1999 - The Terrorist - Lino Brocka Award for Best Film at Cinemanila International Film Festival
• 2000 - Malli- Poznan Goat for Best Director at Ale Kino International Young Audience Film Festival
• 2000 - The Terrorist - Panorama Jury Prize for Honorable Mention at Sarajevo Film Festival
• 2000 - Malli Emerging Masters Showcase Award at Seattle International Film Festival Awards
• 2004 - Malli - Audience Award for Best Feature Film at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
• 2005= Navarasa=Monaco International Film Festival (Monaco)
  • Won - Best Supporting Actor - Bobby Darling
  • Won - Angel Independent Spirit Award - Navarasa - Santosh Sivan
• 2008 - Before the Rains - Grand Award for Best Theatrical Feature at WorldFest Houston International Film Festival
• 2008= Before the Rains= Crystal Kodak award for best cinematography.

Nominated:

• 2001 - The Terrorist- Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film
• 2001 - The Terrorist - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Foreign Language Film

[ Source: Wikipedia ]