Ace Malayalam film director K Sethumadhavan passed away at his residence in Chennai on Friday morning. He was 90 years old. He was reportedly suffering from age-related ailments for quite some time. He is survived by his wife Valsala Sethumadhavan and three children – Santosh, Uma and Sonukumar.
In his film career, Sethumadhavan became a part of several Hindi, Tamil and Telugu film industries as a director and a screenwriter. He worked predominantly in Malayalam cinema and directed over 60 Malayalam movies.
After completing his studies at Government Victoria College in Palakkad, Kerala, he started his film career as an Assistant Director to K Ramnath. He later assisted directors LV Prasad, ASA Swamy, Sunder Rao and Nandakarni. Veeravijaya (1960), a Singhalese film was his first film as an independent director. His first Malayalam film was Jnana Sundari, produced by T E Vasudevan.
Odayil Ninnu, Yakshi, Kadalpalam, Achanum Bappayum, Ara Nazhika Neram, Panitheeratha Veedu, Anubhavangal Palichakal, Punarjanmam and Oppol are among the landmark films in Malayalam film history directed by him.
KS Sethumadhavan had introduced actor Kamal Haasan in Malayalam cinema as a child artiste in ‘Kannum Karalum’ film in 1962. Suresh Gopi was also introduced by him as a child actor in the 1965 film Odayil Ninnu.
In a tweet, Kamal Haasan said that KS Sethumadhavan will always be remembered for his artistic achievements.
காலத்தால் அழியாத காவியங்களைத் திரையில் படைத்த கே.எஸ்.சேதுமாதவன் புதிய அலை சினிமாவின் ஊற்றுமுகம்.மலையாள சினிமாவின் தரத்தைத் தீர்மானித்த அடிப்படை விசைகளுள் ஒருவர்.தன் கலைச்சாதனைகளால் என்றென்றும் நினைவு கூரப்படுவார்.என் சேது சாருக்கு, நல்ல சினிமாவை கற்பித்த ஆசிரியருக்கு அஞ்சலிகள். pic.twitter.com/CXPcyVuMDA— Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) December 24, 2021
He won ten National Film Awards and nine Kerala State Film Awards, including four for Best Direction. His Tamil film ‘Marupakkam’ starring Sivakumar and Radha in the lead roles won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1991. He was also the recipient of the 2009 J. C. Daniel Award.
