Julian Karikalan


Julian Karikalan is an Indian born Australian filmmaker, known for his feature film "Love and Love Only" which is the first English language film for which Ilaiyaraaja has composed original songs and the complete score.

Early life and career

Karikalan was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, to Julius Karikalan and Helen Thilagavathy who were both educators. He did his Graduate studies at Raja college of engineering and technology, Madurai and holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science. He holds a Master of Science in Computing from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Films

Karikalan wrote, produced, edited and directed the feature film 'Love and Love Only', which he completely self-funded through various means. Though the film was made on a microbudget, he managed to rope in composer Ilaiyaraaja, to compose the songs and score for the film. Though Ilaiyaraaja has scored for more than 1000 films in various Indian languages, 'Love and Love Only' is the first English film for which he has composed original songs and the complete score.
'Love and Love Only' is a cross-cultural romantic drama between a working class Australian girl and an International student from India, set in contemporary Australia. Julian experimented a new production methodology with a shoestring budget, and a minimal crew which included his whole family, to make this feature film. He shot the film exclusively on weekends, while still working full-time during the week, to finance the project. The film won him the award for 'Best Direction' at the International Film and Entertainment Festival of Australia in 2015.