Director A B Raj is no more

Filmmaker – screenwriter – producer A B Raj aka Raj Antony Bhaskar, who has made films in the period of 1951 to 1986, passed away in Chennai yesterday, due to cardiac arrest. He was 95 years old.
National award winner actress Saranya Ponvannan is his daughter. Raj, who hails from Alappuzha, lived and studied most of his life in Tamil Nadu. The director, who has made many films like ‘Kaliyalla Kalyanam,’ ‘Kalippava, ‘Nrithasaala,’ ‘Sasthram Jayichu Manushyan Thottu,’ ‘Ullasayathra, ‘Chief Guest,’ ‘Ormikkan Omanikkan, ‘Kannur Deluxe’ and more have directed about 65 Malayalam movies and many more in other languages like Tamil and Sinhalese. Earlier, he was also the president of Tamil Nadu Directors’ Union. He has also directed around 11 films in the language of Sinhalese, while he lived in Sri Lanka. He was known as A Bhaskar Raj in the world of Sinhala cinema.
His debut movie was ‘Kaliyalla Kalyanam,’ in the year 1968, and his Tamil movie debut project was ‘Thulliyodum Pulliman,’ in 1971, which was the Tamil remake of the Malayalam film ‘Chirikkudukka.’ It had Sivaji Ganeshan and Chandrababu in main roles. His disciples include many veteran filmmakers including Hariharan, I V Sasi, P Chandrakumar and Rajasekharan. Most of A B Raj’s movies were commercial hits and he was also the second unit assistant director of David Lean’s ‘The Bridge On The River Kwai,’ the world renowned classic film that was shot in Sreelanka, and was released in 1957.
Kerala State Film Academy Chairman Kamal offered his condolences at the death of A B Raj.