# Geetu Mohandas

Gayatri Das (born 8 June 1981) known professionally as Geetu Mohandas is an Indian former actress and director known for her works in Malayalam cinema. In 2013, she directed the socio political film Liar's Dice which has received two National Film Awards, was premiered at Sundance Film Festival, and was chosen by the Government of India as India's entry for the U.S. 87th Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars.

## Career
### As an actress

Geetu's actual name is Gayatri Das. Affectionately called Geetu by her family, the name was adopted as her screen name when she starred in her fourth movie Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare in 1986 with Mohanlal in the lead role. Geetu was five years old then and captured the hearts of Malayalam filmgoers as a fatherless child who discovers a father in an anonymous telephone caller. She acted in the top grosser En Bommukutty Ammavukku as the title role, which was the Tamil remake of Fazil's Ente Mamattikkuttiyammakku (Malayalam) done by Baby Shalini in the title role. Geetu's first movie as an adult was Life is Beautiful starring Mohanlal in the lead. She went on to act in Thenkasi Pattanam, Valkannadi, Nammal Thammil and several other Malayalam movies. The high point of her career was Akale directed by Shyamaprasad, and produced by Tom George Kolath which won her the Kerala State Award for Best Actress in 2004. Geetu also won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam, for her role as Rose, in Akale.

### As director

Geetu Mohandas formed her film production house- Unplugged in 2009 which produced her directorial debut short fiction film titled Kelkkunnundo Are you listening. The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and subsequently won 3 International awards for Best Short fiction as well as the National Film Award in India. The film has been included as a chapter in the 12th standard Kerala state syllabus since 2014.
Her first feature film Liar's Dice (film) received the Hubert Bals fund for script and project development and the film was selected in Competition for the world dramatic competition at Sundance Film Festival in 2014. Liar's Dice (film) went on to win six major international awards across the world and two National awards in India. It was also India's official entry for the Best Foreign Film category for the 87th Academy Awards.
Her second feature film, Moothon was mentored by the Sundance film lab and Geetu also won the Global film maker award at Sundance Film Festival in 2016. Moothon had its World premiere at Toronto International film festival in 2019 and was the opening film at MAMI 2019.

## Personal life

She was born as Gayatri Das to Mohandas and Latha on 8 June 1981 at Kochi. Studied in India, Malaysia and Canada. She has a brother, Dr. Arjun Das, nephrologist, living in US. On 14 November 2009, she married cinematographer Rajeev Ravi. The wedding took place at night in Kochi, Kerala, India. The couple have a daughter.

## Awards
### As director

International Film Festival of India
* 2009 – IFFI Golden Lamp Tree Award for Best Film and Director – Kelkkunnundo Film Chamber of Commerce
International Awards
* 2017 - Global filmmaking award for story in Sundance Film Festival 2016 - Moothon
Mumbai International Film Festival
* 2010 – Jury Award – Kelkkunnundo

#### Awards for Moothon

* 2020- 3 awards at NYIFF for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Child Actor
* 2020- 3 awards at NYIFF for Best Supporting Actor for Shashank Arora, Best Child Actor for Sanjana Dipu,Best Screenplay for Geetu Mohandas
* 2020- 2 awards at INDO - GERMAN FILM WEEK 2020 for Audience Choice Award, Best Supporting Actor for Roshan Mathew
* 2020- 2 awards at Iat NEWYORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL for 4 nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Child Actor 2020
* 2020- won the Best Film and Jury Prize at the prestigious Festival du Film d'Asie du Sud - FFAST in Paris

### Festivals for Moothon

* 2020- selected to the 18th ANNUAL IFFLA at Los Angeles, California
* 2020- screened at London Indian Film Festival and Birmingham Indian Film Festival.
* 2020- premiered at 43rd GOTEBORG FILM FESTIVAL 2020 In Sweden
* 2020-24th edition of International Film Festival of Kerala - IFFK

### Awards for Liar's Dice

* 2013- National Film Award for Best Actress Geetanjali Thapa
* 2013- National Film Award for Best Cinematography Rajeev Ravi
* 2014- Sofia International Film Festival -Special Mention award & FIPRESCI AWARD for best film
* 2014- New York Indian Film Festival - Best Actress award
* 2014 - Special Jury award at the 18th Sofia International Film Festival - Liar's Dice
* 2014- Pesaro International Film Festival- Lino Micciche Award for the Best Film
* 2014- Granada Cines del Sur Film Festival- Bronce Alhambra award

### As actress
#### Kerala State Film Awards

* 2004- Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress – Akale, Oridam
* 1986- Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist – Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare

#### Filmfare Awards South

* 2004-Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam – Akale

#### Asianet Film Awards

* 2004-Special Jury Mention – Akale

#### Kerala Film Critics Association Awards

* 2001- Best Actress – Shesham
* 2004- Special Jury Award – Akale

#### Mathrubhumi, Medimix film

* 2004-Best character Actress – Akale

#### Ramu Karyat award

* 2020- Promising director Award -Moothon

## Filmography
### As an actress

List of Geetu Mohandas film acting credits :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Onnu Muthal Poojaym Vare | Deepa Mol | |
| 1986 | Sayam Sandhya | Vinu Mol | |
| 1986 | Veendum | Anu | |
| 1986 | Rareeram | Geethu | |
| 1988 | En Bommukutty Ammavukku | Tinnu | Tamil film |
| 2000 | Life Is Beautiful | Bala | Debut as lead actress |
| 2000 | Thenkasipattanam | Sangeetha | |
| 2001 | Kannaki | Kumudam | |
| 2002 | Kakke Kakke Koodevide | Sudharma | |
| 2002 | Pakalppooram | Seemandini / Ghost | |
| 2002 | Krishna Gopalakrishna | Gayathri | |
| 2002 | Sesham | Meera | |
| 2002 | Valkannadi | Devu | |
| 2003 | Sahodharan Sahadevan | Arathi | |
| 2003 | Shingari Bolona | Maya | |
| 2003 | Nala Damayanthi | Damayanthi | Tamil film |
| 2003 | Choonda | Mohini Varma/Archana | |
| 2003 | Mullavalliyum Thenmavum | Eva Cherian | |
| 2004 | Oridam | No name in the movie | |
| 2004 | Thudakkam | Karthika | |
| 2004 | Akale | Rose | |
| 2005 | Ullam | Radha | |
| 2005 | Pauran | Annie | |
| 2005 | Rappakal | Malavika Varma | |
| 2006 | Kisan | Ammu/Ambili Varma | |
| 2006 | Poi | Ramya | Tamil film |
| 2006 | Arunam | Seetha | |
| 2006 | Mouryan | Unknown | |
| 2007 | Bharathan Effect | Geetha | |
| 2007 | Thakarachenda | Latha | |
| 2007 | Naalu Pennungal | KumariThe Virginaka Four Women (Canada: English title: festival title) | |
| 2008 | Akasha Gopuram | Catherine | |
| 2009 | Seetha Kalyanam | Abhirami | |
| 2009 | Nammal Thammil | Anu | |

### As director

Key :
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
List of Geetu Mohandas film acting credits :
| Year | Film | Language | Notes |
| 2009 | Kelkkunnundo | Malayalam | Short Film |
| 2014 | Liar's Dice | Hindi | Special Jury award at the 18th Sofia International Film Festival Received two National Film Awards |
| 2019 | Moothon | MalayalamHindi | Global filmmaking award for story in Sundance film festival 2016 |
| 2025 | Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups † | Kannada English | TBA |