A sad day for Indian cinema as iconic film director IV Sasi passed away today. (Source: IE)
A sad day for Indian cinema as iconic film director IV Sasi passed away today. Malayalam cinema’s rising star Dulquer Salman took to Facebook to express his sadness over the death of the director who had introduced his father – superstar Mammootty to the world of Malayalam cinema. One of his greatest contributions to Malayalam cinema is how he tapped into finding super stars and some of the best talent that the film industry has seen till today. Think of the superstars of the South and you can bet that IV Sasi has called the shots in bringing out their best performances ever!
It is IV Sasi who introduced Rajinikanth to the Malayalam film industry in the film ”Allaudinum Albudha villakum.” He also played a pivotal role in catapulting actors like Mammootty and Mohanlal to the status of iconic superstars that they are known today. Even today, Mammootty’s performances in ”Thrishna” and ”Mrigaya” and ”Inspector Balram” are much-loved hits with the masses. Mohanlal’s big breaks also came through IV Sasi’s movies, of which the most popular one remains ”Devasuram”. No doubts, the IV Sasi brand of movies rocked at the box office and went on to become milestones in the film industry.
This filmmaker dominated Malayalam cinema through his creative partnerships with some of the most celebrated writers of the time such as Jnanpith laureate MT Vasudevan Nair and other great Malayalam storytellers of the time such as T Damodaran and P Padmarajan. Be it Rajinikant, Kamal Haasan, Mammootty, Mohanlal or any of the top heroes of South Indian cinema, IV Sasi called the shots for them in his multi-starrer, larger-than-life movies which has numerous combination scenes of Mammootty and Mohanlal and other leading heroes of the time.
Irruppam Veedu Sasidharan was born in Kozhikode in March 1948 and began his career in the role of an art director. It is not just in Malayalam cinema that IV Sasi made a mark. His contributions to Telugu and Tamil cinema are noteworthy. The Hindi movie Anokha Rishta, starring Smita Patil and Rajesh Khanna, is also one of IV Sasi’s celebrated movies. A recipient of several prestigious awards, IV Sasi had been awarded the Nargis Dutt Award for best film on national integration for the film ‘Aaroodam’. In 2015, he won the prestigious J. C. Daniel Award.
