Malayalam Filmmaker R Sarath Dies at 65

Key facts

• Malayalam filmmaker R Sarath died at the age of 65 at a private hospital in Trivandrum while undergoing treatment for health-related ailments.
• His best-known film Sayahnam (2000) won the Indira Gandhi Award and received seven Kerala State Film Awards that year.
• His 2011 film The Desire – A Journey of a Woman won the Best Narrative Feature Film award at the Geneva International Film Festival.
• He directed short films including Achinte Katha, Chumar Chithrangal, Bhoomikkoru Charama Geetham and Mahatma Gandhi Road, and made a documentary on the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma that received international attention.
• He was also a mural artist and received the Central Government's Junior Fellowship; his project Burial of Dreams dealt with the Bhopal gas tragedy.
• Born in Vilakkudy in Kollam district, he worked as a journalist with Kerala Kaumudi and later retired in 2021 as Deputy Director of the Kerala government's Public Relations Department.
• He is survived by his wife and two sons, and the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) Directors' Union condoled his death.