Khais Millen
 | This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. (August 2023) |
Khais Millen | |
|---|---|
| File:Khais Millen.png KM in 2022 | |
| Born | Khise S N [1] 25 May 1985 |
| Citizenship | India |
| Alma mater | Mar Ivanios College |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1998 – Present |
| Works | Filmography of KM |
| Title | Founder of Mania Movie Magix International Co-Founder of ManiaLab |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Jaan Soji Khais Yaan Soji Khais Saan Soji Khais |
| Parents |
|
| Awards | Awards |
| Website | khaismillen.com |
'Khais Millen' (born 25 May 1985) is an Indian independent filmmaker, and Known for his films with deep emotional and thoughtful storytelling, Khais is considered an established talent of the period.
Left a footprint on the South Indian Film industry with a mind-blowing short Lipstick in 2014 narrating the inner emotions of sexualized identity. Akashvani[2] (2016) is his first full-length feature film as Director. His films have grabbed nominations and critic reviews worldwide.
Khais developed an interest in performing arts and creative writing from a young age. Was an active member in school drama, literature clubs, and national competitions since upper primary. After studying Economics at Mar Ivanios College Thiruvananthapuram, he made an experimental 5 minutes short film to be continued in 2006.
Khais Millen gained international recognition with his first independent short film also written and Directed by himself, Lipstick[3] (2015), for which he was nominated for the Best Emerging Filmmaker in India at the Dadasaheb film festival New Delhi, in 2015 at the age of 30. Mania Movie Magix International was the production company banner he started with the same short.
He transitioned from independent to studio filmmaking with a feature, Akashvani[4] (2016) starring Kavya Madhavan[5] in lead, a family drama is failed at the box office but reached to more audience through Television telecasts of Flowers TV.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Khais Millen designed a raw thriller film with some kid's lead, THALA[6] is the second feature in his career. Including awards for Best Original Script in LIMFF London, Best Feature in DIFF NewYork, Best Edit and Special Mention in NIFF New Delhi and Best Child Artist award from Kerala state film awards 2021, the film bagged a bunch of nominations.
After THALA his second screenplay Adithattu[7], a daring seafaring film Directed by Jijo Antony, starring Shine Tom Chacko and Sunny Wayne leads and the film many international awards including the Second Best Film award from the 53rd Kerala State Film Awards.
As the third feature film, Paradise Circus[8] is an upcoming film written and Directed by Khais Millen through the life and light of circus tents.
Khais’s work regularly features in the listings of best films of their respective decades. Infused with an interesting outlook, his films thematize human emotions, affective science, social class, ethics, the construction of emotions, and the unpredictable nature of life and personal identity. They feature experimental and not repeating narrative structures in his writing. while making films the advantages of practical special effects, experimental soundscapes, different format film photography, and different perspectives are brilliantly used through his narration.
And runs the production company, Mania Movie Magix International and the Vfx team ManiaLab with his wife, Soji Khais. He is also Business partnering with Middle March Studios and SGFX.
Early life
Khais Millen was born on 25 May 1985, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
His father, M A Salam, was a professional drama artist who worked as an administrator, writer, director, and actor in many leading theatre groups in Kerala in-between 1975 to 1995. His mother, Nabeesa Beevi, was a field officer in India Post, Was a handball player at the national level. She would later work as a trainer in Saksharatha Mission, an educational initiative of the Government of Kerala. He has a younger sister, Sakhna, working as a lawyer. And the two were raised in Vattappara, a small and beautiful village in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala.
Growing up, Khais was particularly influenced by the dramas and stage plays by his father. And also from father, he got the spark into the cinematic world. His father had an amazing collection of books and those inspired him in another way, literature.
Victor Hugo, Pablo Neruda, Maxim Gorky, Mopasang, William Shakespeare, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, Sylvia Plath we’re from western and M. T. Vasudevan Nair, P. Kesavadev, S. K. Pottekkatt, O. V. Vijayan were from the Malayalam literature influenced Khais in deeper.
During upper-class studies, his father took charge to run a cafeteria in a movie hall, in his native village, Vattappara. The freedom reached to Khais to learn the magic of film projection and celluloid. He spent most of the time in the movie hall more than in school.
From the Silver screen projection, one special film’s rerelease in 1995 was highly inspired and fired the dream, Kuttichathan 3D. Later He regularly tried to read and study more about film technology.
In High school time, at St Mary’s Higher secondary school Pattom, Khais Millen is very active in the school drama team with his self-written plays. Every time he was selected by the school and won prizes in interstate and national completions.
In 2000, Khais began making films at the age of 15, borrowing his friend’s father's Sony PMW first-generation camera used for sports coverage, and shooting a one-minute duration short film with his schoolmates and cinephile younger friends.
In 2002, That time he practiced Western dance with one of his father’s friends, While his higher secondary studies, Khais Millen got an opportunity to assist his master with a television shoot, as a choreography assistant.
And when the enthusiastic boy with a brain full of ideas was noted by the others. In the same year, 2002 he entered to film industry and the post changed him from assistant choreographer to assistant art director to assistant photographer to assistant director. In 2005 he was marked as an associate director in films.
Personal life and public image
Khais married Soji in 2012, whom he met at Government College for Women Vazhuthacaud while at a dance show practice in 2002 when he was 17 and studying economics at Mar Ivanios College.
She has worked as a producer for his banner on some of his films since LIPSTICK, (2015). The couple has three children and resides in Thiruvananthapuram.
She is an active member of child protection, adolescent awareness, and women empowering programs conducted by government organizations. Now working as a school counselor and specializing in child psychology and clinical psychology and she is the founder of MindClinic.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Language | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Lipstick | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short |
| 2016 | Akashvani | Malayalam | Yes | No | No | Debut Movie |
| 2022 | Adithattu | Malayalam | No | Yes | No | 53rd Kerala State Film Awards Second Best Film[9] |
| TBA | THALA | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Yes | 52nd Kerala State Film Awards Best Child Artist |
| Paradise Circus | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Yes |
References
- ^ "Khais Millen is a popular Director". E Times. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
- ^ "Akashavani Releases on Feb 19". International Business Times. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
- ^ "Khais has already made his mark with his short film". The Hindu. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
- ^ "Review And Rating". Dekh News. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
- ^ "Khais Millen's Akashavani". Times of India. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
- ^ "This young award winner makes her family proud". Times of India. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- ^ "Khais Says, It is the audience who should decide the genre of a film after watching it". Times of India. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
- ^ "Fishing his way through a circus: Scenarist Khais Millen on his films". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
- ^ "53rd Kerala State Film Awards: Complete list of winners". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2023-07-24.