CHENNAI:
Noted Filmmaker I V Sasi died at Chennai. He was 69. He was taken to hospital following uneasiness and died on the way.
I V Sasi was one of the well known director in the Malayalam film industry. Around 150 films were directed by him. He had produced several hit films during the 70’s and 80s. Actress Seema is his wife.
I V Sasi started his film career as an art director. He directed his first film at the age of 27.
The official directorial career was with the film Ulsavam. Soon he carved out a name for himself in the Malayalam film industry.
His films were known for their uniqueness and always contained a stamp of his directorial style. I. V. Sasi has directed more than 170 odd films over a span of 34 years and has constantly delivered super hits and some of them classified as classics or good cinema.
Avalude Raavukal which was a bit hit in the Malayalam film industry permanently established his name in the industry. This film was later dubbed into many other Indian languages including Hindi. It was the second film in Malayalam to be rated as “Adults only” even though it was a drama.
Mohanlal’s first breaks as a co-hero Ineyengillum was also directed by I. V. Sasi. He introduced Mammootty as a hero in his film Thrishna. He also introduced Jose.
He worked with Mammootty on more than 35 films. He directed Mohanlal’s biggest hits, Devaasuram, which was scripted by Ranjith.
He was the director of Kamal Haasan starrer Guru, Allauddinum Arputha Vilakkum, Karishma and Eeta. He was the one who introduced Rajinikanth to Malayalam film industry through Allauddinum Albhutha Vilakkum in 1979.
He has directed Hindi movies like Patita (Mithun Chakraborty), Anokha Rishta (Rajesh Khanna and Smita Patil), Pratishodh (1980), Karishma. His war-themed movie 1921, written by screenwriter T. Damodaran, was the first Malayalam movie to be nominated in the Italian Film Festival.
In 1982, he shared The Indian National film Awards’ “The Nargis Dutt award” for the best feature film on national integration for his film Aaroodam with its producer Rosamma George. I.V. Sasi served as the festival director of the second edition All Lights India International Film Festival, which was held at Ramoji Film City, the world’s largest film studio at Hyderabad, India from 24th to 27th Sept 2016.
