Palakkad, Dec 24: Legendary South Indian film director K S Sethumadhavan passed away at his residence in Chennai due to old age illness on Friday.
He was 90 and is survived by his wife Valsala and three children Santhosh, Uma and Sonu Kumar.
Sethumadhavan directed about 60 films including in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi languages, mostly in 1960’s.
Born in 1931, to Subramaniyan and Lakshmi in Palakkad, the legendary film director, after his graduation from Victoria College, Palakkad, started his career in the film industry as Assistant director to K Ramnath.
Later he independently directed a Tamil film Veera Vijaya in 1961. His first Malayalam film was Jnana Sundari.
He bagged various awards including ten National film awards and nine Kerala State film awards as a director and screen writer, including J C Daniel award in 2009 considering his comprehensive contributions to Malayalam film industry.
Tamil film Marupakkam won the National award for the best script.
His landmark Malayalam films were– Odayil Ninnu, Anubhavangal Palichakal, Oppol, Aranazhikaneram, Achanum Bappayum, Yakshi, Kadalpalam, Panitheeratha Veedu, Venal Kinavukal, among others.
Sethumadhavan introduced Malayalam Mega Star Mammooty through the film “Anubhavanghal Palichakal” in 1971. He also introduced Kamala Hasan as a child artist in Malayalam film “Kannum Karalum” and later in the lead role in his film “Kanyakumari”.
He also introduced Malayalam Super star Suresh Gopi as child artist in the film “Odayil Ninnu” in 1965.
The funeral will take place at Choolaimedu crematorium near Nungambakkam in Chennai this evening.
