J. Sasikumar

Sasikumar died at a hospital in Kochi on 17 July 2014 at the age of 87. He was buried according to Christian rites at St. Michael's Church Alappuzha, his home-town.

The Kerala state Government honoured him in the year 2013 by conferring on him the coveted J. C. Daniel Award for his manifold contributions to the Malayalam cinema.

Sasikumar holds record for directing most films (141) after Telugu film director Dasari Narayana Rao (151), most films having the same actor as hero Prem Nazir in 84 films and the most films directed in a year, 15 films in 1977. He died in 2014 at the age of 86.

Along with Prem Nazir he helped many producers who had lost their land and jewellery through movie production. Sathyan, Prem Nazir, Adoor Bhasi, S. P. Pillai, Madhu, Jose Prakash, Sheela, Vijayasree, K.R.Vijaya, Sharada, Vidhubala, Lakshmi, Sreelatha, Jayabharathi, Sreevidya, Nanditha Bose, Unni Mary, Kamal Haasan, Mammootty, Sukumaran, Soman, Ravikumar, Jayan, Vincent, Sobhana, Shankar, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi all acted in his films. Kaviyoor Ponnamma, who had acted in the role of a mother in his old movie Thommante Makkal which had a story with a Christian background acted in the same movie, remade with a Hindu background and retitled Swanthamevide Banthamevide taking the same role after 25 years. Some years later, Sasikumar remade the same movie under the title "Raja Vazhcha". It was Sasikumar who introduced a new sophisticated villain to the Malayalam film world in the form of "Silver Head" enacted by Jose Prakash in one of his old films. During his long career in film he has directed more than 140 films in Malayalam and one film in Tamil. The trio consisting of Sasikumar, Sreekumaran Thampi and M.K Arjunan was the rage of the period 1969–1980.

Following the advice of his friend Prem Nazir, Sasikumar went to Chennai in the 1960s. He directed Thommante Makkal and Porter Kunjali for Thomas Pictures in 1965. He also directed, along with P. A. Thomas, the movie Kudumbini (1964) for Thomas Pictures, which received a Certificate of Merit at the annual National Film Awards. Subsequently, he directed an art film, Kavalam Chundan, which was a flop. As a result,a dejected Sasikumar decided to give up film direction and return to Kerala to join his father's oil mill business. It was Prem Nazir who encouraged him to return to Chennai where he directed the commercial film Jeevitha Yaathra which became a major hit. After this, Sasikumar understood that he couldn't make an art film like Kavalam Chundan with producers' money. But after his change of style from art to commercial films he never looked back.

Nambiathusseril Varkey John (14 October 1927 – 17 July 2014), better known by his screen name Sasikumar, was an Indian film director who worked in Malayalam cinema. He has directed more than 141 films in his career which began in the mid-1960s. He is often referred to as Hitmaker Sasikumar due to the commercial success of his films. In 2012, he was awarded the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema

He was born on 14 October 1927 to N L Varkey and Mariya in Allappuzha, Kerala. He had displayed a great flair for acting in dramas even when he was a boy of 10. He completed his school education from Leo Thirteenth High school, Alleppey and St. Ephrem's School, Mannanam. During his college life he had represented Kerala University football team. He passed out as a graduate in economics from Sacred Hearts College, Thevara.