Rajijv Anchal's new English film, Beyond the Soul, has bagged three prestigious awards in New York International Film Festival. This is the first time a Malayali director made such a spectacular achievement in New York festival. He has got awards for best direction, screenplay and Grand Jury Prize.

Rajiv Anchal's English movie, Beyond the Soul, is the first Hollywood movie made by a Malayali director. (Though SIXTH SENSE fame Manoj Night Shyamalan has some Kerala root, he is a US citizen.)

BEYOND THE SOUL by Rajiv Anchal was an amazing film. The story is about the search for a cure for a rich American person who has an incurable disease.

His doctor feels the cure perhaps lies in the traditional system of medicine Ayurveda and the doctor arrives in Kerala.

"The doctor meets an Ayurveda practitioner in Kerala and gets a vision that reveals the source of his patient's mysterious illness," said Anchal.

The star Thampy Antony, brother of Malayalam actor Babu Antony, has acted as the spiritual advisor. Stan Christensen plays the role of an American doctor, who visits Kerala to learn the healing power of ayurveda to help his patient suffering from a rare skin disease. Other actors are: Scott Anderson, Brian Berta and Melanie Braxdon.

The Golden Wings Cinema production was filmed in India and in the United States. Writer/director Rajiv Anchal filmed the Indian sequences in collaboration with cinematographer Ramachandra Babu. Keith Gruchala was the Director of Photography in Chicago. Noted Vidya Sagar composed the music.

Rajiv Anchal did have one of his films GURU submitted for India's entry in the 1997 Foreign Film Oscar Submissions. It did not get nominated for the "Oscar's" that year, but has received praise in India. Of Anchal's seven Malayalam films, three are on spirituality. All of them were fairly successful, though none was a runaway hit.