The passing away of legendary Malayalam director Siddique has left a huge void in the entire Indian film industry. He was admitted to the hospital in Kochi a month ago due to a liver ailment and sufferred a heart attack, breathing his last on Monday night.

Siddique has directed five Tamil movies 'Friends' starring Suriya and Vijay, 'Kavalan' starring Vijay, 'Engal Anna ' starring Vijayakanth and 'Bhaskar Oru Rascal' that has Arvind Swamy and Amala Paul in the lead.

Suriya took to twitter to pay rich tributes to Siddique writing Memories rush in and my heart is heavy. Siddique Sir's demise is an irreplaceable loss. My heartfelt condolence to his family and friends. I stand with you all in this moment of grief. Friends was an important film for me in many ways. Siddique Sir was inherently an encouraging man who would compliment actors even if we did a small improvement to the scene. He would convey his observations on my performance with a lot of unconditional love, both during shoot and at edit. For the first time I looked forward to being on a film set! He taught me to enjoy the process of filmmaking, have a good laugh and to not take myself seriously.

The 'Kanguva' star added Siddique Sir was a senior and much applauded director when he made Friends, but he would treat all of us as equals during shoot with his friendly approach. I've never seen him angry or raise his voice on set. Working with him is an experience I will cherish forever. He gave me something I didn't have before I met him - the inner confidence to believe in myself and my talent. Years later, wherever we met, he would enquire about my family and my happiness with much attention to what I was sharing with him.

Suriya got highly emotional finishing Thank you Siddique Sir for your faith, belief and trust in me during my formative years as an actor. I will miss you a whole lot. I pray for your family and friends to find their peace with bearing the physical loss of not having you around. However, the memories and love you've given us, will carry us through our journey ahead.

Siddique Sir 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/o3St0wOrlb

— Suriya Sivakumar (@Suriya_offl) August 9, 2023