Santosh Sivan

Sivan grew up in the city of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India, where he attended Loyola School and Mar Ivanios College. His father, Sivan, is a renowned director and cinematographer of Malayalam documentary films, and runs the Trivandrum-based Sivan Studio.

Sivan is the older brother of film director Sanjiv Sivan and younger brother of director Sangeeth Sivan. The brothers are sometimes referred to as the ’South Indian Scott Brothers’ after their skills as film-makers.

Sivan graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India in 1984. In December 1995 he became a founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).

A noted cinematographer, Sivan won eleven National Film Awards from his participation as a cinematographer in over forty films from the 1980s to mid-1990s. His success as a director began with his critically acclaimed The Terrorist in 1999 and he solidified his reputation with the release of Asoka in 2001.