Jeo Baby

Jeo Baby is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who works in Malayalam films.^[1] His family drama film The Great Indian Kitchen (2021) won the 51st Kerala State Film Award for Best Film and he received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Screenplay.^[2]

Jeo Baby
Born	Thalanadu, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Occupations	Film director screenwriter actor
Years active	2016–present

Early life

He studied cinema at St. Joseph College of Communication, Changanacherry. During his final year, he directed the 2007 short film Secret Minds which discussed same-sex relationships. He, along with three other students (the producer and actors), were suspended and later expelled from the college, which alleged the film had "obscene scenes which were capable of misleading young minds" and that they had not gotten permission to shoot it on campus. However, Jeo Baby later stated that the film "did well at international film festivals".^[3][4]

Career

Jeo Baby started his career in the entertainment industry by writing for Television sitcoms in 2010.^[4] He was involved in scripting the initial episodes of popular television sitcoms Marimayam, 'Uppum Mulakum' and 'M80 Moosa'. He made his directional movie debut through the Malayalam movie '2 Penkuttikal' which was released in 2016.^[5] His second movie Kunju Daivam was released in 2017.^[6] In 2020 he directed Kilometers and Kilometers which has Tovino Thomas playing the lead role. The movie didn't get a theatrical release due to COVID-19 pandemic & premiered directly on Malayalam satellite channel Asianet followed by an OTT release on Netflix.^[7] His fourth Malayalam film, The Great Indian Kitchen, which has Suraj Venjaramoodu & Nimisha Sajayan playing the lead roles, was directly released on 'NeeStream' OTT platform on 15 January 2021. The movie was later officially released on Amazon Prime.^[8] The film was successful, with a Tamil remake being released in 2023 and a Hindi one in the works. Jeo Baby stated that it had given him the confidence to take more risks for his own 2023 film Kaathal – The Core. Starring Mammootty (who also financed the film and decided to collaborate with Jeo Baby after watching The Great Indian Kitchen) and Jyothika in the lead roles, the film has been praised as a serious and sensitive drama about a panchayat candidate navigating societal reactions and his relationships after his wife outs him as gay to end their loveless marriage.^[9]

Short film

^{[citation needed]}

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Secret Minds	Screenwriter	1.Screened in Queer LGBT Film Festivals, Bangalore 2. Screened in International Queer Film Festival, Rice University, Houston

Television

Sitcoms

Year	Title	Role	Channel
2011	Marimayam	Screenwriter	Mazhavil Manorama
2014	M80 Moosa		Media One
2015	Uppum Mulakum		Flowers TV

Filmography

As director and screenwriter

Year	Title	Credited as			Role	Notes
		Director	Writer	Actor
2016	2 Penkuttikal	Yes	Yes	No	—
2017	Kunju Daivam	Yes	Yes	Yes		[10]
2020	Kilometers and Kilometers	Yes	Yes	Yes		[11]
2021	The Great Indian Kitchen	Yes	Yes	No	—	[12]
2022	Freedom Fight	Yes	Yes	Yes		Anthology film; segment: Old Age Home
	Sreedhanya Catering Service	Yes	Yes	Yes	Siby
2023	Kaathal – The Core	Yes	No	Yes	Kuttayi's stepfather	[13]

As actor

This is a list of films that he only worked as an actor.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Ain
2019	Edakkad Battalion 06	Villager
2021	Varthamanam	Advocate
	Kho-Kho	Meenakshi's father
2022	Chera
2023	Purusha Pretham		[14]
	Kolla	S.I. Victor Sebastian	[15]
	Pulimada	Agustine	[16]
2024	Mandakini	Sagar	[17]
	Swakaryam Sambhava Bahulam	Raveendran	[18]
	Jai Mahendran	Harichandran	Web Series[19]
2025	Maranamass	Jessy's father
	Kerala Crime Files 2 †		Web Series[20]
	Krishnashtami: the book of dry leaves †	TBA	Shooting in progress[21]

As presenter

• Kaadhal Enbadhu Podhu Udamai (2025; Tamil)