Amal Neerad (born 7 October 1976 in Kollam, Kerala, India) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, and producer. He is well known for his stylish cinematography. He attended the Satyajit Ray Film And Television Institute of India, Kolkata (first batch) and went on to film and direct several movies in India. He was awarded National Award in 2001 for best cinematography for the diploma film Meena Jha during graduation (short feature section).
Early life and family
Amal Neerad born in Kollam, moved to Kottayam and then settled in Ernakulam due to his father’s and mother’s profession. He attended school and college in Ernakulam.At College, Ernakulam he was the college union chairman (1992–93 and 1993–94) twice. He won the first prize in photography in the Mahatma Gandhi University Youth Festival for three consecutive years.
He married actress Jyothirmayi on 4 April 2015.
Career
In 1995 he joined Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. He was awarded with both National Award and Ajaykar Award for his work as a cinematographer. While a student in the institute, he won a scholarship to do a course in at the Babel Berg studio in Berlin. While there he shot a 35mm film called “Fourth World”, which he wrote and filmed himself. This film was exhibited in India at the German Festival.
He worked as a cinematographer with Ram Gopal Varma’s production company, where he did the cinematography for James, Darna Zaroori Hai and Shiva. After that he did the Malayalam film, Black.
In 2007, he made his directorial debut with the Malayalam film, Big B starring Mammootty and Nafisa Ali. His next film was Sagar Alias Jacky starring Mohanlal. The film saw the return of the iconic character Jacky from the 1987 film Irupatham Noottandu. The film had Shobhana and Bhavana as the female leads. In 2010, Amal worked with Prithviraj and Prakash Raj for the thriller Anwar.
Neerad launched his production company Amal Neerad Productions, in 2012. The company’s first production was the 2012 film Bachelor Party, which was directed by Amal Neerad himself. This was followed by an anthology film, 5 Sundarikal, with 5 different directors. Amal Neerad Productions, along with Fahad Faasil and Friends Pvt. Ltd., produced the period thriller Iyobinte Pustakam, starring Fahadh Faasil, Lal, Isha Sharvani, Jayasurya and Padmapriya, which was released in November 2014.
On 5 May 2017, Amal Neerad Productions has released CIA:Comrade In America directed by Amal Neerad, starring Dulquer Salmaan in the lead.
