Famous film producer Achani Ravi passes away

KOLLAM: Achani Ravi, the producer of Malayalam classic films, passed away on Saturday. His full name was K Ravindranathan Nair. He was 90. He launched General Pictures in 1967 and turned a producer. His first film was Anweshichu Kandethiyilla with Sathyan in the lead role. It was during this time commercial movies earned money, but his goal was not money. He thus became the promoter of art films. P Bhaskaran, A Vincent, M T Vasudevan Nair, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and G Aravindan also directed films under the banner of General Pictures.

He produced four films. When his film Achani became a box office hit, he came to be known as Achani Ravi. The film made at a cost of Rs 4 lakh got a profit of Rs 14 lakhs. He built Kollam Public Library and Sopanam Auditorium with this amount. It is now the cultural hub of Kollam city with a children's library and an art gallery.

He was awarded Government of Kerala’s J C Daniel Award in 2008 for his outstanding contribution to films. He has also received several awards for its feat in the cashew nut industry. His other films are Kattukurangu, Lakshaprabhu, Kanchana Sita, Thumpu, Kummatti, Esthappan, Pokkuveyil, Elipathayam, Manju, Mukhamukham, Anantharam, Vidheyan etc.

Ravi was born on July 3 in 1933 as the fifth of eight children of vendor Krishna Pillai, a prominent cashew businessman in Kollam and Naniyamma. His father had secured a seat for Nair, who was brilliant in studies, in Manipal Medical College. After the sudden death of his father, Nair had to take over his father’s business. Vijayalakshmi Cashews thus started became a huge enterprise with around 115 factories in and outside the state. There were more than half a million workers. In between this, he turned to cinema.

His wife Usha Ravi, who was a singer, passed away in 2013. His children are Prathap Nair, Preetha and Prakash Nair. His daughter and son in-laws are Rajashree, Sathish Nair and Priya.