KOCHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Director CP Padmakumar, 60, who became popular through films 'Sammohanam' and 'Aparna', passed away at a private hospital in Kochi on Saturday. He had been battling cancer for a long time. The body was moved to his home town of Thiruvananthapuram.Padmakumar began his cine career as an assistant director to the late G Aravindan, the flag bearer of the parallel stream in Malayalam cinema. He also assisted National-award winning director Aravindan in all his movies except Pokkuveyil. Padmakumar also worked as an art director in films like Thampu, Suryante Maranam, Esthappan, Naseema, Oridathu, Vaasthuhara and Swaham. Though he had only two feature films to his credit as a director, Padmakumar was a man who walked in the league of Malayalam cinema’s stalwarts, when the medium was going through a period of transformation in the late seventies.He made his directorial debut with ‘Aparna’ in 1981.His second film, ‘Sammohanam’, which released in 1994, was the work that marked him as an ace director. It won the ‘Best of the Fest’ Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1995. Both ‘Aparna’ and ‘Sammohanam’ were also produced by him.Padmakumar was a close associate of many veteran directors, including G Aravindan, Padmarajan and Bharathan. He was also the editor of ‘Nityatha’, a famous magazine of the turbulent seventies.Padmakumar’s filmography also includes a host of short films and documentaries like ‘The Track’, ‘Mangroves of Malabar’, ‘Day of Silence’, ‘Swathanthryam’, ‘Neermizhikal’, ‘Road Safety’ and ‘Bhakshyasuraksha’. Besides, he also acted in films like ‘Padam Onnu: Oru Vilapam’, ‘Kanchanaseetha’ and ‘Pakal Nakshathrangal’.A native of Thiruvananthapuram, Padmakumar was born to P K Purushothaman and M Sarojam in 1952. He had four brothers and two sisters including S Ambikadevi (Ret District Registrar), C P Sreekumar (Ret deputy director, Soil Conservation Department), C P Jayachandran (Ret district judge, Human Rights Commission Secretary), C P Santhi Prasad (Director of School of Santhi), CP Nirmal (Manager, Syndicate Bank) and S Ajitha.A bachelor, he leaves behind a large group of friends and admirers. His mortal remains were taken to his house at MP Appan Road on Saturday evening where several people paid tributes. The cremation will be held at Thycaud Shantikavadam at 10.30 am on Sunday.
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