Tribute: The departure of director K.S. Sethumadhavan marks the end of a glorious era in South Indian cinema

He made several landmark films with brilliant performances that shaped Malayalam cinema’s style and idiom

In a career spanning more than three decades, K.S. Sethumadhavan produced some of the most memorable cinema, both commercially successful and thematically challenging. He directed films in all the South Indian languages and in Hindi, and won numerous awards, including 10 National Film Awards, 9 Kerala State Film Awards and the J.C. Daniel Award of the Kerala government.

A pioneering filmmaker with a distinct narrative style and thematic preferences, Sethumadhavan produced several landmark films with brilliant performances that shaped Malayalam cinema’s style and idiom. With his passing last week, the industry has lost a great auteur and legendary storyteller.

Born in 1931 in Palakkad, Sethumadhavan’s film career began under T.R. Sundaram of Modern Studios, producer of the first Malayalam talkie, Balan. He made a Sinhalese film, Veeravijaya, before entering the Malayalam film scene with Jnanasundari in 1961, at a time when the industry was just beginning to find its footing. During the 1960s and 70s, when he was most prolific, he made a series of films adapting literary works of writers like Thakazhi, Uroob, Muttathu Varkey, Kesavadev, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Malayattoor Ramakrishnan, K. Surendran, Pamman, K.T. Muhammed, P. Ayyaneth, Thoppil Bhasi and Parapurathu, most of whom also wrote his screenplays.