KOCHI: Director Thampi Kannanthanam who was admitted to a private hospital in the city passed away. He was declared dead at 1:21 pm by the hospital authorities. He was in the ventilator and died due to sepsis shock caused by liver failure.
Kannanthanam played a major role in shaping actor Mohanlal to an action hero, he began his film career as the assistant of Joshi and Sasikumar. 'Rajavinte Makan', 'Vazhiyora Kazhchakal', 'Bhoomiyile
Rajakkanmar' 'Indrajalama', 'Nadodi', 'Chukkan' and 'Mantrikam' are a few of his movies.
He has also directed a Hindi movie 'Hadh'.
He was born on December 11, 1953, as the sixth son of Baby Kannanthanam and Thankamma at Kanjirappally in Kottayam.
He studied in MC Seminary School. He is married to Kunjumol and has two kids Angel and Aiswarya.
He began his acting career in the movie 'Itha Oru Theeram' in 1980 and went onto act in four more movies.
He made his directorial debut with the movie Thavalam in 1983. He directed 16 movies, wrote three scripts and produced five films.
Scriptwriter John Paul was one of the first to pay his tribute to Kannanthanam, saying that "Sad news. Thampi Kannanthanam, Film director, actor, producer, distributor and above all a good friend expired a few minutes back, am told. Join prayers with his family for eternal peace to his Soul."
"His loss is huge for Malayalam Cinema. The man only speaks about movies. He is one of the people who shaped Malayalam cinema and had made the 'anti- hero' acceptable for the audience quite successfully. As a directors his contributions are immense. My respects to the talented man," said actor-director Madhupal.