Julian Karikalan

Early Life and Career

Julian was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, to his parents Julius Karikalan and Helen Thilagavathy who were both educators. Julian 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 (Interactive Multimedia) from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

Films

Julian wrote, produced, edited and directed the feature film 'Love and Love Only', which he completely self-funded through various means including credit cards and loans. Though the film was made on a microbudget, Julian managed to rope in India's legendary 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.