Director Diphan Passes Away

Diphan, the popular film-maker who rose to fame with the Prithviraj starrer Puthiya Mukham, passed away. The 45-year-old breathed his last at a private hospital in Kochi, where he had been admitted due to kidney-related disease.

The cremation will take place at Diphan's hometown Trivandrum, tomorrow. The director is survived by wife Deepa, sons Madhavan and Mahadevan. Diphan is the son of Aanandavalli, the senior dubbing artist.

The director made his entry into the film industry as the assistant of director Shaji Kailas. Diphan has assisted Shaji Kailas in several blockbuster movies, including Aaram Thamburan, FIR, Narasimham, Valyettan, etc.

Diphan made his debut as an independent film-maker in 2003, with the Saikumar starring political thriller The King Maker: Leader. The movie failed to make a mark at the box office, and the director took a short break from films.

The film-maker made a grand comeback in 2009 with the Prithviraj movie Puthiya Mukham, which emerged as a superhit. He teamed up with the young actor once again, for the action thriller Hero, which was an average grosser.

Dolphin Bar, the Suresh Gopi-Anoop Menon movie was the last Diphan directorial which hit the theatres. His last directorial ventures, the Jayaram starring action thriller Sathya, is all set to be released soon.