Santhosh Pandit

Santhosh Pandit is a Malayalam film actor and director. He is known for his directorial debut film Krishnanum Radhayum in which he appeared in the lead role and handled almost all the major departments of the film. The songs and trailers of the film went viral in YouTube after it was released there before the release of the film.

As per Google Trends, he was the 10th most popular search from India on November 10, 2011. However, his website claims that he was at the 6th on Google Trends, probably due to fluctuations in ranking during the course of the day. Interestingly, India stood only fifth among the countries that had searched for him. NRI Malayalees gave more attention to him, as Qatar stood top of the list, followed by Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Santhosh Pandit's first movie Krishnanum Radhayum which got released on 21 October 2011 became an un-expected crowd puller and saw some success in theaters. Some critics attribute the moderate success of the film to the general curiosity after the unprecedented abuses and negative comments posted on the YouTube clips related to the songs in the film. Santhosh is credited as an actor, director, script-writer, editor, music director, lyric writer, editor and playback singer in the film and he stands a chance for entering record books for the maximum credits for a single person in a released film. Currently he is engaged in the production of his second film, Jithu Bhai Enna Chocolate Bhai, where again he is handling all the major departments in production. Amidst criticism, Santosh Pandit received some praise from National Award winner Salim Kumar, complementing his effort and commented "This is indeed a big achievement considering the fact that even superstar flicks are continuously bombing at the box office these days.

For handling 8 departments of the film from direction to acting, Santhosh Pandit received the 2011 Ekalavya Karma Sreshta Award by Ekalavya Charitable Trust. The award was presented by veteran Malayalam actor Madhu] in the presence of K.B. Ganesh Kumar, Minister for Forests & Environment, Sports and Cinema, Government of Kerala.

Santhosh was born in Peruvannamuzhi village and was brought up in Kozhikode city. He went to school at Chelannur AKKR High School and the Government Arts College. After his parents died, he inherited three houses, one of which he sold to raise funds for his first film. He is divorced and has a son.