John Edathattil
Biography
Sab John Edathattil is one of South India’s leading screenwriters and storytelling mentors, known for his significant contributions to the Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu film industries. He is the Founder and Chief Mentor of ScreenWrite.In, India’s dedicated screenwriting studio was established in 2009.
He currently serves as Professor and Head of Screenwriting at the L V Prasad Film and Television Academy and Loyola LIVE, Chennai. Since 2008, he has also been a jury member at the FICCI Frames Awards, Mumbai.
Beyond screenwriting, John has taken on multiple roles in the film industry as an actor, director, and producer. He received acclaim for his performance as Narasimhan in the Tamil film Kuruthippunal (1996). He has also appeared in a key role as a ‘Bike Tuner’ in the Telugu film Hero, directed by Anand Annamalai, and in a Tamil project directed by Karthick Naren.
Born on 30 December 1958 in Alappuzha, Kerala, Sab John Edathattil graduated in Commerce and later specialized in professional accounting. However, he gravitated toward screenwriting early in his career. His breakthrough came with the Malayalam super-hit Chanakyan, starring Kamal Haasan and Urmila Matondkar, which established him as a distinctive narrative voice in South Indian cinema.
John is deeply committed to mentoring aspiring writers across India. Through his acclaimed workshops and masterclasses conducted at film academies and universities, he promotes professional screenwriting practices. In these sessions, he shares practical techniques for building compelling screenplays and resolving narrative challenges, often drawing from his own body of work featuring leading actors.
Currently, he is engaged in writing four mainstream feature film screenplays and developing three web series projects across multiple Indian regional languages. In addition, he conducts specialized training programs for corporate executives, university faculty, and professional students, focusing on story-based learning methodologies and scenario-planning practices.
