Superstar making Malayalam scriptwriter Dennis Joseph dies of heart failure

Kochi: Dennis Joseph, the Malayalam movie scriptwriter and filmmaker whose pen played a key role in evolving actors Mammootty and Mohanlal into superstars, passed away following a cardiac arrest on Monday night.

Joseph collapsed at his house in Kottayam and was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival, said industry sources.

Joseph began his career in the early eighties as a journalist with a film magazine and later started writing scripts for the movies.

After his debut film ' Evan sandhya' in 1985, he never looked back. He has penned around 45 films and directed 5 movies, some of which were the biggest box-office hits of Malayalam Cinema.

The 1988 film 'Manu Uncle' staring Mammootty fetched him the national award for the best children's film that year.

Joseph had written the script for the blockbuster 'New Delhi', a film which gave a new lease of life to Mammootty's career in 1987.

Mohanlal's career took an upward surge following the 1986 hit movie 'Rajavinte Makhan', which was scripted by Joseph and directed by Thampi Kannanthanam.

When he wrote 'No. 20 Madras Mail', saw both Mammootty and Mohanlal acting together in the Joshy directorial. Joseph- Joshy equation always created magic in the silver screen.

Reacting to the demise of Joseph, Mohanlal said that "no doubt it was he who made me".

"Take any character that I played, I owe it to him. And the big films of yesteryears were also made in other languages just because of the power of his script. The dialogues of 'Rajavinte Makhan' continue to reverberate even now and that says everything. Never felt he would go this fast," said Mohanlal.

Superstar Suresh Gopi, presently a member of the Rajya Sabha whose role in 'New Delhi' also catapulted his film career, responded that he was shocked to hear this extremely sad news.