Legendary producer Navodaya Appachan (88) passed away in Kochi on Monday (April23) evening. He was the Cecil B DeMille of Malayalam cinema, a trendsetter who understood commercial cinema.
Appachan had produced the first cinemascope film in Malayalam (Thacholi Ambu),first 70MM film (Padayottam) and above all the first 3D film in India My Dear Kuttichathan. The man was a visionary who also built the first amusement park in India, Kishkinta. He knew commercial cinema inside out and it was all about marketing along with star power and innovation.
He learned the ropes from his brother Kunchacko who set up Udaya Studio near Alappuzha in the 60’s. Udaya was known for their spectacular ‘Vaddakan Pattu’stories (Thacholi Otheyanan, Aromalunni,Mamakkam etc), a kind of Malayalam ballad mixed with western style full of sword fights, sorcery, song and dance, glam girls and big stars. Udaya has made the maximum movies with Prem Nazir, the first superstar of Malayalam films.
Appachan learnt the importance of mass masala ingredients to make a film commercially successful during his learning years in Udaya. Later he went one step furtherand mixed new innovations like cinemascope and 3D along with right elements to hit the bulls eye at the box-office. At the same time Appachan experimented with low budget movies with new faces and novel story ideas like Manjil Virinja Pookkal and Ente Mamattikutty amma, which clicked.
The marketing guru had also a keen eye to spot talent. Appachan was responsible for giving break to Mohanlal, who played the villain in Manjil Virinja Pookal and its director Fazil. The ace producer was suffering from prostate cancer and was admitted to Lake Shore hospital in Kochi last week. He is survived by his wife Baby, sons Jijo(director of Padayottam and My Dear Kuttychathan) and Jose,two daughters Jissa and Jisha.
Appachan’s body has been kept at Ernakulam Town Hall till today evening, and funeral will be held in Chennai on Wednesday.
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