Cardinal condoles the death India’s film maker

April 24, 2012: Cardinal George Alencherry joined politicians and Kerala film fraternity on Monday to mourn the death of Maliampurackal Chacko Punnoose, a noted film director and producer popularly known as Navodaya Appachan.

The producer of dozens of mega hit movies, including India’s first 3-D film, was admitted to a private hospital in Kochi on April 17 with old age illness. He was 87.

Hospital sources said he was also under treatment for cancer for the past 10 years. He is survived by wife, two sons and two daughters.

Condoling the death, Cardinal Alencherry, major archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church, said the passing away of Appachan has created “irreparable gap” in art, particularly in the film industry. The cardinal had visited Appachan, a Catholic, before his death and prayed over him.

Family sources said the body would be taken to his studio, Navodaya, in Kochi, and then to Chennai for the last rites to be performed on Wednesday.

Appachan, a product of Jesuit-managed St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu, made several experiments in Malayalam cinema as a producer and director. He produced India’s first 3-D cinema and cinemascope several years ago.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy described Appachan as a great personality and said his death has made the Malayalam film industry poorer.

Playback singer K.J. Yesudas, who has worked with Appachan for several decades, said Appachan was one of the pillars of the Malayalam film industry. “It was his experience that he gained since his early days that kept him in good stead,” he told reporters.

He founded the Navodaya Studio and India's first amusement park, “Kishkinta,” in Chennai. His involvement with the film industry began with his brother Kunchako at Udaya Studio in Alappuzha, his birth place.

Malayalam film industry’s biggest showman introduced several actors in Malayalam cinema such as Mohanlal.