Popular Mollywood filmmaker Babu Narayanan of the much-celebrated 'Anil Babu' duo died at the age of 59 on June 29. As per reports, Babu Narayanan took his final breath at a private hospital in Thrissur. The director was apparently battling cancer for the past few years.
After working as an associate director with legendary filmmaker Hariharan, Babu Narayanan made his directorial debut in 1989 with the movie 'Anagha' that featured Nedumudi Venu and Parvathi in the lead roles. Even though the film received appreciation from critics, it emerged as an average grosser at the box-office.
Babu Narayanan's career took an unexpected turn when he joined hands with Anil in the movie 'Ponnaramthottathe Raajaavu' that featured Jagadeesh in the lead. The film became a superhit, and the duo decided to make more movies together under the name 'Anil Babu'.
In the 1990s, the director duo made some blockbuster movies including 'Maanthrikacheppu', 'Radholsavam', 'Aramanaveedum Anjoorekkarum', 'Mannadiyar Penninu Chenkotta Chekkan', 'Mayilpeelikkavu' and 'Uthaman'. Interestingly, most of the movies directed by Babu Narayanan featured Jayaram or Mukesh in the lead roles, and they were all made with a low budget. However, most of his movies performed well at the box-office, and some of the films even posed a threat to movies featuring Mammootty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi at the box-office.
The first decade of the 21st century was not that great for Babu Narayanan. Even though his 2002 movie 'Pakalpooram' emerged as a blockbuster, the director took an intentional break from the industry for unknown reasons. In 2014, Babu Narayanan made a comeback in the industry with the movie 'To Noorah with Love'. However, this romantic movie that featured Mamta Mohandas in the lead role failed to make any impacts at the box-office.
As the entire industry is mourning the death of this legendary filmmaker, Jarayam, one of Babu Narayanan's best friends in the industry, wrote his condolences on Facebook.
