Noted veteran cinematographer Ramachandra Babu passes away at 72

Eminent cinematographer Ramachandra Babu, who wielded camera for over 125 movies, passed away at a hospital on Saturday, family sources said. He was 72. Babu was part of the technological advancement made by the Malayalam movie industry and was behind the camera when the industry shifted from black and white to colour. "He suffered uneasiness and collapsed and was immediately admitted to a hospital here but could not be saved," a family source said.

Babu had won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Cinematography four times for his works starting with his first colour film (Eastman Colour) Dweepu in 1977, directed by Ramu Kariat. He went on to win three more -Rathinirvedam in 1978 and Chamaram in 1980, both directed by Bharathan, and Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha starring Mammootty in 1989 directed by Hariharan. Opposition Congress Leader Ramesh Chennithala expressed his deepest condolences to the bereaved.

Chennithala said Babu was one of the best cinematographers the Malayalam industry has ever seen and added that his demise would be a great loss to the Malayalam industry. Minister for Culture A K Balan too expressed his condolences over the demise of the veteran cinematographer. "The best movies of Malayalam industry was picturised through his camera," Balan said.

Babu was the cinematographer of the movie Nirmalyam released in 1973. The film had won the National Award For Best Feature Film. It was directed by M T Vasudevan Nair. His noted movies include Padayotttam in 1982, which was the first Malayalam 70 mm feature film, Agraharathil Kazhuthai (1978) which had also won the National Award for the Best Tamil Film directed by John Abraham, Sallapam (1996), Ghazal (1993), Kanmada (1998) and many more.

He was behind the camera for Yavanika, directed by K G George, Marmaram by Bharathan and both the movies won the Kerala State Best Film Award in 1982. He had also worked for films in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Arabic and English languages. Noted cinematographer Ravi K Chandran is his brother.