Harikumar's association with eminent writer MT Vasudevan Nair saw them deliver 'Sukritham', a classic hit headlined by Mammootty.
Harikumar. (Supplied)
Veteran Malayalam director Harikumar breathed his last while battling cancer at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday evening, 6 May.
He was 68.
He is survived by his wife Chandrika and two daughters Ammu and Geethanjali.
His body will be placed at the Vyloppili Sanskrithi Bhavan in Trivandrum at 2.30 pm for the public to pay homage.
The last rites will be held at Shanti Kavadam crematorium on Tuesday evening, 7 May.
The Malayalam director left behind a legacy of films that dealt with human emotions rather than the usual commercial mass masala.
Harikumar with his wife Chandrika. (Supplied)
Harikumar was born in Kanchinada village in the Thiruvananthapuram district.
In an interview, he revealed that he did not watch many films in his childhood since he had to walk 20 km to visit a theatre.
An avid reader, Harikumar pursued engineering in Thiruvananthapuram during which time, he had the opportunity to watch movies.
He was posted in Kollam after he landed a job as an assistant engineer. It was here that Harikumar became a part of the film society movement.
Here, he got the opportunity to interview many film personalities. He filed interviews for two major cinema dailies. This helped him make a name for himself in the industry and eventually, he entered the filmdom.
Harikumar disclosed that he was always interested in making films. He used to visit shooting locations to understand the filmmaking process.
He had close association with yesteryear filmmakers Ramu Kariyat, KG George, and Aravindan. On several occasions, the director recalled visiting the shooting locations of these filmmakers.
Harikumar forayed into films as an assistant director and then an independent director.
Veteran filmmaker Harikumar is no more. (Supplied)
Harikumar made his directorial debut with Ambal Poovu in 1981.
He faced a severe financial crunch while filming the project as the producer passed away.
Spanning a career of over four decades, Harikumar helmed 18 films as a director.
In association with eminent writer MT Vasudevan Nair, he delivered an excellent movie titled Sukritham, where Mammootty played the lead.
The movie, released in 1994, earned critical acclaim and also won the National Award for Best Malayalam Film.
Sukritham boasted some fine performances by Mammootty, Gautami, Manoj K Jayan, and Shanthi Krishna. The film is considered the best of Harikumar, which had a strong story penned by MT. It also has a good soundtrack.
Harikumar also worked with eminent screenwriters like Vasudevan Nair, Lohithadas, Sreenivasan, and Kaloor Denis.
Further, the veteran director wrote screenplays for his films — Oru Swakaryam (1983) and Puli Varunne Puli (1985), Snehapoorvam Meera (1982), Ayanam (1985), and Pularvettam (2001).
In 2017, the filmmaker helmed a biographical film titled Clint, which was based on Edmund Thomas Clint.
His last film was Auto Rickshaw Karante Bharya (2022), starring Ann Augustine in the lead role.
Harikumar also directed a handful of documentaries and served twice as a member of the National Film Awards jury (in 2005 and 2008).
Harikumar made several movies with an aesthetic value and in different genres.
The director was known for his serious films like Aambal Poovu and Sukritham.
He also made a mark for himself in the comedy genre with Puli Varunne Puli (1985) and Swayamvarapandhal (2000).
Harikumar’s Ezhunnalath (1991) starred Mukesh, Jayaram, and Siddique in lead roles. It is penned by S Bhasurachandran from the story written by Harikumar.
The film was a sensation as the plot features the protagonist searching for his brother from a pre-marital relationship. In the end, he finds that he is the son born from the affair.
Sukritham is the milestone film in Harikumar’s career. It was penned by Jananpith winner MT Vasudevan Nair.
The movie tells the story of Ravishankar (played by Mammootty), a journalist suffering from blood cancer.
On realising that he will die soon, Ravishankar loses his hope. However, he does things to make people around him happy and less affected after his death.
He asks his wife to get involved with another man, their mutual friend, so she won’t be alone after his death.
But in a twist of events, Ravishankar becomes normal after undergoing a special treatment. However, by that time, he loses everything. His wife doesn’t want to live with him anymore.
Dejected, Ravi commits suicide after writing his obit in his newspaper.
The movie is regarded as a classic hit.
It was critically acclaimed and won two National Awards for Best Feature Film in Malayalam and Best Music Direction.
Harikumar’s debut movie Aambal Poovu dealt with the life of a cabaret dancer.
He said the film had a good story and gave an outlook on how a girl becomes a cabaret dancer.
It starred Sukumari, Jagathy Sreekumar, Jose, and Prakash in the lead.
The album composed by V Dakshinamoorthy is termed the best by music lovers.
Udyanapalakan saw Harikumar working with eminent script writer AK Lohitadas. It was headlined by Mammootty.
In the Malayalam movie, Sudhakaran appears as an ex-army man who returns to his hometown.
He is disgruntled by the attitude of the villagers. But he falls in love with a young girl who frequently steals flowers from his garden. The events that follow form the crux of the film.
This was the last collaboration between Harikumar and Mammootty.
Swayamvarapandhal features Jayaram as Deepu. The movie revolves around the life of Deepu after his marriage to Priya (played by Samyuktha Varma).
Deepu is kept in the dark about Priya being mentally unstable. She gets treated at a mental asylum but forgets her husband after getting normal.
However, the movie ends on a positive note with Deepu and Priya living happily together.
The script by Sreenivasan had a good dose of comedy and emotions.
Clint is a biographical film based on Edmund Thomas Clint, a child prodigy known for drawing over 25,000 paintings during his short life of seven years.
He died of kidney failure.
The movie had Master Alok playing the titular role. It also featured Rima Kallingal, Unni Mukundan, Joy Mathew, and KPAC Lalitha in key roles.
It was written by KV Mohankumar.
Malayalam actor Mohanlal condoled the death of Harikumar.
In his Facebook post, the actor wrote that the death of director Harikumar was an inevitable loss to the Malayalam film industry.
Mammootty took to social media to extend his heartfelt condolences to Harikumar’s family.
He worked with the filmmaker on several projects. Their Sukritham is a classic.
Director B Unnikrishnan also condoled the death of the veteran filmmaker.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and opposition leader VD Satheeshan were the prominent political figures who condoled the death of Harikumar.
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