14 Jul Dr. C K Thomas
HOD – Film & Drama ( Rtd.Director Doordarshan)
Four decades of experience in Theatre, Dr.C.K. Thomas Chunkath has acquired global exposure by working with more than 20 renowned Theatre Directors across the world and assisted in the production of the film GANDHI by Richard Attenborough. He has got a master degree from National School of Drama & Asian theatre Institute, New Delhi with a First Rank and a PhD in Comparative Study of the language and techniques in Theatre, Television and Film.
As an alumnus of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, he has learnt multiple courses such as TV programme Production & Technical Operations, Multimedia Applications in TV Productions, and the Digital input for TV Production. He worked for 31 years in National and Regional T.V. network in Programme Production, management and administration and retired as the Director, Doordarshan.
Made theatre Productions in various languages such as Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, English and French, Thomas won Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy (Govt. of Kerala) award for Drama. Presented plays at National Theatre Festival organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, in 1976 at Kochi and at Bangalore in 1984. Directed a short feature film, Orikkal (once upon a time) based on Tolstoy’s short story named ‘How Much Land a Man Needs’. He was a Member of the Faculty of Fine arts University of Calicut, 1984-1986.
Produced International T.V. documentary series on Gandhiji’s constructive programme and presented weekly Television series GANDHI DARSHAN in the National Television Network of Govt of India, continuously for 10 years. An audio visual research – documentation project led by Thomas on ‘Mudiyettu’ has been approved by UNESCO.