Malayalam filmmaker Rajesh Pillai dead at 42

South Indian filmmaker Rajesh Pillai died on Saturday at a private hospital in Kochi, according to a report in The News Minute. The 42-year-old director was suffering from a liver problem and had been on ventilator support since Friday.

His latest film Vettah, starring Kunjacko Bobban, Manju Warrier and Indrajith, released this Friday. The director was admitted to hospital several times during the course of making the film, contracting pneumonia while Vettah was in the final sound mixing stage. He had been suffering from liver cirrhosis for a long time.

Pillai had been adviced to go in for a liver transplant but asked by the doctors to reduce weight first. The director chose to wait for his film’s release instead, which aggravated his condition.

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Watch Vettah trailer here:

Rajesh hit the headlines with his film Traffic in 2011 which was then remade in other South Indian languages while its Hindi remake was made by the director himself.

Many consider Traffic to be a path-breaking film in Malayalam cinema, given its face-paced thriller format. Rajesh has directed five movies.