National award-winning legendary filmmaker KS Sethumadhavan passed away on Friday at his residence in Chennai. He was 90. The filmmaker was reportedly not keeping well for some time due to age-related ailments. On Friday morning, he breathed his last after suffering from a massive cardiac arrest. KS Sethumadhavan is survived by his wife Valsala and three children - Santosh, Uma and Sonukumar.

After launching himself as an independent filmmaker through the Sinhalese movie ‘Veeravijaya’ in (1960), he ventured into Malayalam cinema with the film ‘Jnana Sundari’ and the rest is history. In a career spanning over three decades, The veteran has over 60 movies to his credit, of which most of the films are evergreen classics including Odayil Ninnu, Yakshi, Kadalpalam, Panitheeratha Veedu, Anubhavangal Palichakal, Punarjanmam, Achanum Bappayum, Ara Nazhika Neram, and Oppol. He has also delivered several hits in various languages including Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam.

It was KS Sethumadhavan who introduced Kamal Haasan as a child actor in Malayalam through the movie ‘Kannum Karalum’. Kamal also made his lead role debut in Malayalam through his film ‘Kanyakumari’. His last outing was the 1991 movie 'Venalkinavukal’, which was based on the script of Jnanpith laureate M T Vasudevan Nair.

He was the recipient of numerous awards including ten National Film Awards and nine Kerala State Film Awards including four for Best Direction. His Tamil film Marupakkam won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1991. In 1996, his Telugu film Stri won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. He was also awarded JC Daniel Award, the Kerala government's highest honor for contributions to Malayalam cinema.

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