Ashoke Viswanathan
Biography
Ashoke Viswanathan is the son of late N. Viswanathan and a post graduate in film direction from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Subsequently, he completed a certificate course in video production from the same institute in 1986. Since then, he has been active in both film and video media as a director, screenplay writer, actor and presenter, having directed more than 150 films and television programmes including feature films, documentaries, telefilms, music videos, and teleserials. He has won three National Awards and two International Awards. Three of his feature films and two of his short features have been included in the Indian Panorama sections of IFFI ’94, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2005. His films have been shown at the Commonwealth Film Festival, Manchester, the Pyongyang International Film Festival, the Dhaka International Film Festival, and the Ipswich Film Festival, among others. His daughter Anusha Viswanathan is an actress. He has also been an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Direction at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and a Visiting Professor at Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, at the Dept. of Cinema and Theatre, Tufts University, Boston, Dept. of Film Studies, Jadavpur University, and Dept. of Film Studies, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. His father N. Viswanathan was a professor at St. Xavier’s College for forty years. He has presented papers and illustrated lectures at Monmouth University, New Jersey, Tisch School of Arts, New York University, and at Downing College, Cambridge.
Known For & Full Filmography8 Titles
Movie - 1999, 2h 15m • as Arup
Residents of Calcutta find solace from their hectic daily lives in conversations at one cafe or another. Newton is a member of one such group of cafe regulars. He appears to be in a romantic relationship with Ananya. Newton wants to start a business. Ananya consults her actress friend Laboni, who asks script-writer Arup to help Newton. However, Arup is perhaps too mysterious a character.
Movie - 2023, 2h 15m • as Father (voice)
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 1993, 2h 15m • as Udayan
During the 1960s Naxalite movement in Calcutta, an Economics professor sympathetic to the movement is arrested, tortured, and imprisoned for ten years. Upon his release, he returns to a transformed city, only to discover that the traumas of the past continue to haunt him.
Movie - 2006, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
When a woman loses her baby, her husband abandons her and she starts showing schizophrenic symptoms. She sets her eyes on her elder sister's husband and tries to get close to him.
Movie - 1996, 2h 15m • as Som
Filmed in India, Rumer Godden’s story has been adapted and directed by the Jewel in the Crown team. Two English schoolgirls arrive in New Delhi, 1959. Their diplomat father has secured them a beautiful Eurasian governess. 15-year-old Una suspects an ulterior motive. But her father’s affairs take second place to her own when she has a secret affair with the Indian gardener.
Movie - 2006, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Six people from different backgrounds share their love stories, lovers and relationships. In the process they come to terms with their own thoughts and feelings.
Movie - 2024, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
When COVID-19 hits Khokon falls into substance abuse. With a lawyer's aid his wife Ganga and their 5 year-old daughter Durga escape with schoolmaster transforming their lives.
Movie - 2015, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Ria marries to a police officer, Bidhan who is on the hunt for the notorious underground revolutionary, Sadhan. It so happens that Riya, inadvertently or otherwise, has been harbouring the "criminal" Sadhan. Moreover, Riya knew Sadhan in theri college days and they were very close, even intimate.