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John Abraham
Born	August 11, 1937 Kuttanad, Kerala, India
Died	May 31, 1987 Kozhikode
Occupation	Film Director
"A Wonder in World Cinema" - Adoor Bhasi

John Abraham (August 11, 1937 - 31 May 1987), was a Malayalam film director and writer.

John Abraham was born in Changanassery in 1937. He completed his studies in Kottayam, staying with his grandfather. It was him who nurtured John's talent in early days. After completing his degree in economics, he worked as an insurance agent in Bellary. After that he joined the FTII, Pune and was trained by Ritwik Ghatak. John graduated out of the FTII with gold medals in screenwriting and film direction. He entered the film industry working as assistant director to Mani Kaul for the film Uski Roti (1969, Hindi). He was worked for some Hindi projects that was shot in Kerala, but none were released. John's first attempt in direction came in 1967 named Vidhyarthikale Ithile . It was the Tamil film Agraharathil Kazhuthai (1977) that rose John to fame. Considered an avant-garde film director and writer, he made only four films, namely Vidyarthikale Ithile Ithile(1972), Agraharathil Kazhuthai (1977, Tamil), Cheriachante Krurakrithyangal (1979) and Amma Ariyan (1986) all four written and directed by him.

It was under the leadership of John Abraham that Odessa Collective came to existence in 1984 with a street drama in Fort Kochi named Nayakali. Odessa was an attempt by a group of movie enthusiasts to change the history of film production and distribution by making it a collaborative effort with the public and thus act as an empowering and liberating medium. Their first film, Amma Ariyan, was produced with contributions from the general public. Odessa also collected fund for the film by screening Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. Amma Ariyan was screened on a non-commercial basis throughout the state. John Abraham was a loner and he was famous and infamous for that. The media fondly called him Otttayan (The lone tusker). John was also an alcoholic, and died after falling from the rooftop of a his sister's house in Kozhikode.

John Abraham has a cult following in his home state of Kerala because of his anarchic way of life, and those who were close to him swear by his humanist qualities. He was convinced of the value of using the power of cinema to change society.

1. Vidyarthikale Ithile Ithile - 1972 - Malayalam

• Direction: John Abraham
• Screenplay: M Azad
• Cast: Madhu, Adoor Bhasi, Manorama, S V Ranga Rao, Jayabharathi
• Cinematography: Ramachandra
• Music: M B Srinivasan

2. Agraharathil Kazhuthai - 1977 - Tamil

• Direction & Screenplay: John Abraham
• Cast: M.B.Srinivasan, Swathi, Savitri, Raman Veeraraghavan
• Cinematography: Ramachandra
• Art Director: Jeevan Thomas
• Music: M B Srinivasan

3. Cheriachante Krurakrithyangal - 1979 - Malayalam

• Direction & Screenplay: John Abraham
• Cast: Adoor Bhasi, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Poornima Jayaraman, Abraham Joseph, Venu
• Cinematography: Madhu Ambat
• Music: Johnson

4. Amma Ariyan - 1986 - Malayalam

• Direction & Screenplay: John Abraham
• Cast: Joy Mathew, Maji Venkitesh, Nilambur Balan, Harinarayanan, Sara Thomas
• Cinematography: Venu
• Music: Sunitha

• Profile in cinemaofmalayalam.net
• Weblokam profile
• A tribute to Ritwik Ghatak by John
• Amma Ariyan, a study - Manuvilsan, Rajmohan
• Remembering John - Adoor Bhasi (Malayalam)
• Remembering John - Ramachandra Babu (Malayalam)
• Remembering John - Venu (Malayalam)
• Remembering John - M.B. Sreenivasan (Malayalam)
• Remembering John - Adoor Gopalakrishnan
• John Abraham on Indian Film Database by Chaosmag

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