AB Raj Passes Away: Veteran Malayalam Director, Actor Saranya Ponvannan's Father Dies Of Cardiac Arrest

AB Raj is the father of famous Tamil actress Saranya Ponnvanan, who won National award for her performances.

Veteran Malayalam director, screenwriter, and producer Raj Antony Bhaskar passed away on Sunday, following a cardiac arrest. The 95-year-old noted director widely known as AB Raj took his last breath at his daughter Saranya Ponvannan’s residence in Virugambakkam, Chennai at about 8 PM. AB Raj is the father of famous Tamil actress Saranya Ponnvanan, who won the National award for her performances. Hailing from Alappuzha, Raj lived most of his life in Tamil Nadu. He started his career as a filmmaker in Sri Lanka and directed more than 10 films in Sinhalese under the name A Bhaskar Raj. The multifaceted personality even worked as second unit assistant director of English filmmaker David Lean during the making of the movie 'The Bridge on the River Kwai', which was released in 1957. Soon Raj stepped into the Malayalam film industry made his debut with Kaliyalla Kalyanam in 1968. Raj is believed to have directed nearly 65 Malayalam films and several movies in Tamil and Sinhalese. Some of his noted films include Football Champion (1973), Sasthram Jayichu Manushyan Thottu (1973), Kaliyalla Kalyanam (1968), Lottery, Ticket (1970), Sambhavami Yuge Yuge (1972), Marunnattil Oru Malayali (1971). The unfortunate news of AB Raj's demise has come a week after leading Telugu film distributor Kamalakar Reddy of KFC Entertainments and his father Nandagopal Reddy died in a road accident near Wadapally, Telangana on August 19. As per the several media reports, the 48-year-old Kamalakar Reddy and his 75-year-old father were coming from Nellore in a private ambulance to Hyderabad for the latter's treatment. Recently, Kamalakar's father was found to be infected with the novel Coronavirus and he had to be hospitalised. This is why the two were travelling in an ambulance to a hospital in Hyderabad.