Odessa Sathyan

Cheeram Veetti Sathyan (10 October 1957 – 19 August 2014), popularly known as Odessa Sathyan was an Indian documentary filmmaker and social activist, known for his involvement in the naxal movements of the seventies in Kerala and his association with Odessa Collective, a people's film movement which was founded by the noted Malayalam filmmaker, John Abraham. He received the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi award, for his musical documentary Balikurup, a film on Malayalam poet, A. Ayyappan.

Biography C. V. Sathyan was born on 10 October 1957, at Vatakara, in Kozhikode district, in the South Indian state of Kerala, to Cheeramveettil Kunkan and Cheeru. He was attracted by the leftist movement early on in his life and was associated with the social activism, in the district of Kozhikode, in the 1970s. These activities gathered momentum when he joined the naxalite movement.

The next phase of his life started with his association with the renowned filmmaker John Abraham.

Social activism Sathyan's social life was kickstarted by the trade union movements of 1970s, in Kerala, when he got actively involved in many of the leftist activities during that time in Kozhikode. He was reported to have been associated with the trade union strikes at Iringalpara and other areas in Kozhikode. Later, Sathyan joined the naxalite movement and became the Kozhikode district Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) and had to undergo imprisonment during the Emergency period of 1975–77. He was said to be one of the leaders of a people's mass trial, conducted by the CPI ML, at the Kozhikode Medical College Campus.

Film career The friendship with John Abraham influenced Sathyan to join the Odessa Collective initiative. and the documentary was the filmmaker's attempt to look at the poet's life from the perspective of an insider. a police officer who made headlines by confessing on killing the Naxalite leader, Varghese. Visudha Pashu (The Holy Cow): In the post production stage, under editing. Balikurippu (The Sacrificial Note): A musical on the life of the poet, A. Ayyappan.