Veteran filmmaker KS Sethumadhavan passed away early on Friday at the age of 90. His work across South Indian languages won critical acclaim and featured some of the most celebrated works of their time.
The ace filmmaker was bestowed with 10 national awards and 8 state awards in a career spanning over four decades.
Kamal Haasan, one of his frequent collaborators, took to social media to share his condolences.
He wrote, "KS Sethumadhavan, who has given timeless classics, is an important name in the new-wave cinema of India. He is one of the frontrunners who set the standard for Malayalam cinema. He will forever be remembered for his artistic achievements. My heartfelt condolences to my Sethu sir, someone who taught me good cinema."
Sethumadhavan introduced actor Kamal Haasan to Malayalam cinema as a child artist through his film Kannum Karalum in 1962. Kamal Haasan acted as the son of actor Sathyan in this movie. He later introduced Kamal Haasan in Malayalam cinema as a hero for his movie Kanyakumari, which was also the debut film of actor Jagathy Sreekumar. Incidentally, Sethumadhavan's final Tamil directorial was the Kamal Haasan-starrer Nammavar.
Sethumadhavan had directed 64 movies in 6 languages. He is survived by his wife Salsala, sons Sonukumar, Santhosh and daughter Uma.