Malayalam filmmaker Shafi, known for delivering some of the biggest comic hits in the early to late 2000s, breathed his last on Saturday. He was 56.
The director, whose original name is Rasheed M H, was under treatment for a while at a private hospital after suffering a stroke on January 16.
The younger brother of writer-director Rafi Mecartin, with whom he had collaborated on writing scripts before turning director, Shafi commenced his career as an assistant director of Rajasenan in the film Dilliwala Rajakumaran.
He made his directorial debut with One Man Show, starring Jayaram, Mukesh, Samyuktha Varma, Lal, Manya, Kalabhavan Mani and Narendra Prasad.
His most popular films are Kalyana Raman, Two Countries, Pulival Kalyanam, and Chattambinadu. Also notable are his collaborations with screenwriter Benny P. Nayarambalam on the films Thommanum Makkalum, Chattambinadu, and Marykkundoru Kunjaadu.
His last film was the Sharafudheen-starrer Aanandam Paramanandam.
Actress Mamta Mohandas, who worked with him in Two Countries, said his demise left her heartbroken. Recalling her experience shooting the film with him, she described Shafi as a man with a "gift of finding humour in just about everything."
In her statement, she said, "The 95 days of shoot.. long hours from chat, travel, eating together be it in restaurants or on the streets in the middle of nowhere and above everything, absorbing the positivity from his amazing and relentless sense of humour during the shoot of Two Countries have brought him so close to my heart and every time we reconnected. I would always tell him that fans ask us for a ‘3 countries’, and his response would be an enthusiastic and a resounding, ‘Yes I’m working on it… and I’m looking for the 3rd country fellow to proceed’. So many memories created.. and someone that I love creating more with. He had a unique gift of finding humour in just about everything. My heart goes out to his family, and I’m almost short of words to express the pain of this loss."
Screenwriter KR Krishnakumar mentions Two Countries as the Shafi film that ran the longest at his home for the past decade. "The speciality of his films was that they were replete with comical situations with maximum repeat value. Characters such as Dasamoolam (played by Suraj Venjaramoodu in Chattambinadu), Manavalan (played by Salim Kumar in Pulival Kalyanam), and Srank (Salim Kumar in Mayavi) would continue to make us laugh," he said.