Lijo Jose Pellissery

Restored in 4K, Nayakan (2010) returns to theatres on 30 October 2026. It was Lijo Jose Pellissery's feature debut, a crime film starring Indrajith Sukumaran, and Lijo himself played the gangster Stevenson. The Malayalam filmmaker and actor comes from Chalakudy in Thrissur district. His father, Jose Pellissery, was a film and theatre actor who co-owned the Sarathy Theatres group, which gave Lijo an early grounding in performance. He studied at Union Christian College, Aluva, earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore, assisted ad filmmaker Manoj Pillai and made short films. His short 3 was shortlisted for best film at the PIX Short Film Festival in 2007. City of God (2011) came next, then the satire Amen (2013), a box-office success, Double Barrel and Angamaly Diaries (2017), which featured around 90 new actors. Ee.Ma.Yau. (2018) and Jallikattu (2019) won him Best Director at the 48th and 50th Kerala State Film Awards, and the Silver Peacock for Best Director at the 49th and 50th International Film Festival of India. Jallikattu premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was India's official entry for the 93rd Academy Awards. He also received the Silver Crow Pheasant Award at IFFK 2018. Churuli (2021) and Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023) followed.