Actor Sasi Kalinga Passes Away

Sasi Kalinga, the senior Mollywood actor, who rose to fame with his performances in the popular Malayalam movies like Pranchiyettan And The Saint, Amen, Vellimoonga and so on, passed away. The actor breathed his last at a private hospital in his hometown Kozhikode today (April 7, 2020). Sasi Kalinga was suffering from liver disease from the past few years.

The 59-year-old, who was born as V Chandra Kumar, is the son of Kozhikode Kunnamangalath Chandrasekharan Nair and Sukumari Amma. He is survived by wife Prabhavati. Sasi Kalinga, who began his acting career as a theatre artist, has acted in around 250 films.

Sasi Kalinga entered the field of acting and joined a theatre group with the help of his uncle Vikraman Nair, after completing his diploma in automobile engineering. Instead of his official name Chandra Kumar, the actor chose the name Sasi, which was his nickname among family and friends as his official stage name. It was the popular director Ranjith who added Kalinga, which was the name of Sasi's theatre group along with his name.

The actor established himself as a leading theatre artist within a career span of around 25 years and has acted in around 500 stage plays. Sasi Kalinga made his movie debut in 1998, with the movie Thakarachenda, which had actor-writer Sreenivasan in the lead role. After an unsuccessful first inning in cinema, Sasi went back to the theater.

The actor made a comeback to cinema with Paleri Manikyam, the Mammootty-Ranjith movie in which he appeared in the role of a police officer. Later he rose to fame with the comical roles in the popular films including Pranchiyettan And The Saint, Amen, Indian Rupee, Vellimoonga, Amar Akbar Anthony, and so on. Sasi Kalinga was last seen in VM Vinu's Dhyan Sreenivasan-starrer, Kutti Maama.