Malayalam screenwriter-director Dennis Joseph passes away

Legendary Malayalam screenwriter and director Dennis Joseph passed away on Monday evening. He breathed his last at a private hospital in Kottayam following a heart attack.

Before becoming a force to reckon with in the Malayalam film industry, Dennis Joseph worked as a journalist with a magazine. And it was in 1985, he made his debut as a screenwriter with Eeran Sandhya, which had Mammootty, Shobhana, Rahman and his uncle Jose Prakash in the lead roles. And he never looked back. Dennis penned some of the biggest box office hits of Malayalam cinema, including New Delhi. The 1987 film had an ensemble cast, including Mammootty, Sumalatha, Suresh Gopi, Urvashi, B. Thiagarajan, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan, Mohan Jose, Devan, and Jagannatha Varma. It was one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of that year. And it even inspired remakes in Telugu, Kannada and Hindi.

Dennis Joseph is also the writer behind other critically and commercially successful films in Mammootty’s career. Dennis’ Nirakkoottu, Shyama, Nyayavidhi, Veendum, Thanthram were among the movies that were instrumental in establishing Mammootty’s stardom in the industry. In fact, Dennis made his directorial debut with critically acclaimed Manu Uncle, which had Mammootty in the lead role. The National Award-winning film revolved around a bunch of school kids who come to Kerala to spend their vacation. And their holiday turns into an action-adventure as these kids begin a parallel investigation into a museum burglary. And the rest of the film humorously unfolds how these kids bring the culprits to justice with the help of Manu Uncle, played by Mammootty. The film also had Mohanlal in a memorable cameo as himself.

Dennis Joseph had also written several films for Mohanlal, including Bhoomiyile Rajakkanmar, Rajavinte Makan and Gandharvam. As a matter of fact, the last film he worked on as a writer was for Mohanlal’s Geethaanjali. The 2013 film was directed by Priyadarshan.

Babu Antony’s upcoming film Powerstar was touted as Dennis Joseph’s comeback. The fate of the film remains unknown at the moment.