A dreamer

The world of cinema is blessed by many great film makers who set a benchmark in film making.One such person is legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosowa,who holds a unique place among the film makers all over the world.

Akira Kurosowa was born in Tokyo,Japan and failed to get into a art college but joined Proletarian Artists' League and worked for some years for newspapers.Then later he joined as a assistant script writer to established film maker of that era Kajiro Yamamoto and learnt the art of film making.

Finally,he debuted as director from the movie Judo Saga in 1943 which was based on a novel by Tsuneo Tomita.It was well received during the time of World War 2.Then he made a movie with actor Toshiro Mifune called Drunken Angel and went on to make almost 9 films with him and most of them are considered as classics.Then he got international recognition from the movie Roshomon which won many awards including a special Oscar.IT also inspired so many film makers around the world.His movie Ikiru is another classic which further strengthened his stature as a genius film maker.

Then he made classic Seven Samurai which was followed by many Samurai movies.This movie inspired many film makers across the world.It got a Hollywood remake called The Magnificent Seven and Bollywood classic Sholay too is inspired by it and also another Bollywood movie called Khote Sikke copied from the great movie.Even literary giants like Girish Karnad inspired by it and made a movie called Ondanondu Kaladalli in Kannada language which was pretty good and appreciated.He completely changed the script to suit the local culture.

A Fistful of Dollars directed by Sergio Leone too is copied from his Yojimbo.It was again remade remade in 1996 as a gangster movie Last Man Standing, starring Bruce Willis.

Some of his other epic movies are Tora!Tora!Tora!,Kagemusha,Ran,Dreams,Throne of Blood.Some of his works are adopted from William Shakespere's dramas.Ran is adopted from King Lear and Throne of Blood is adopted from Macbeth.

Many great directors were influenced by his works including Andrei Tarkovsky,Ingmar Bergman,Roman Polanski,Steven Spielberg,Martin Scorsese,Coppola,George Lucas,Sergio Leone etc...Recently Anaheim University launched the Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film in the memory of him.