Film director-cartoonist Sasi dead

Social media was filled with condolences.Civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad tweeted, K P Sasi, a compassionate, powerful voice of film-making is no more. Era of honesty, audacity passionate commitment to peoples cinema...Rest in peace and power dear comrade Sasi.

Film and documentary director K P Sasi died in a private hospital here on Sunday.

He was 64.

FEFKA, an association of Film Employees Federation of Kerala, paid tribute to Sasi, also a cartoonist, on its Facebook page.

FEFKA Directors' Union also paid tributes to him on the Facebook page.

In its post, the union said Sasi died while undergoing treatment in the hospital.

''His cremation will be held tomorrow,'' it added.

Both FEFKA and the directors' union said Sasi had won the national award for his film 'Ilayum Mullum' (leaf and thorn) on the life of Malayali women vulnerable to social and psychological violence.

His other films mentioned in the post were 'Resisting Coastal Invasion', 'America America', 'Living in Fear', 'Development at Gunpoint' and 'Fabricated', they said.

Sasi was the son of K Damodaran, one of the founding leaders of the Communist party in Kerala.

Sasi started as a cartoonist in the 1970s while he was a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, they said.

He worked as a cartoonist in the Free Press Journal in Mumbai and was one of the founders of Vibgyor Film Festival, they said. Social media was filled with condolences.

Civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad tweeted, ''K P Sasi, a compassionate, powerful voice of film-making is no more. An era comes to an end. Era of honesty, audacity & passionate commitment to people’s cinema...Rest in peace and power dear comrade Sasi. Cartoonist too! Music for the resistance #RIPSasi.'' PTI HMP NVG NVG