Maliampurackal Chacko Punnoose, known as Navodaya Appachan was an Indian film producer, director and entrepreneur. He is best known for his work inMalayalam cinema, especially as the founder of Navodaya Studio. Appachan was born to the Maliampurackal family at Pulinkunnoo and was an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai. He was married and had two sons and two daughters. He died on 23 April 2012 at Kochi, aged 88. Movies he produced include Manjil Virinja Pookkal and My Dear Kuttichathan. The latter was the first 3D movie made in India and released as Chota Chetan in Hindi. He is the founder of Navodaya Studio. He created Bible Ki Kahaniyan on Doordarshan. He first became involved in the film industry with his brother Kunchacko, at Udaya Studio. The first Cinemascope film in Malayalam was directed by him, and the Malayalam Padayottam, which was the first indigenously shot 70mm movie in South India, was produced by him. He founded Kishkinta, India's first theme park, in Chennai. He was given the 2011 J. C. Daniel Award for contributions to Malayalam cinema. As far as the verdict on Kadathanadan Ambadi, the film was originally produced by Sajan Vargheese for Saj Productions. He was the head of Saj financial group and when the company faced loss, the respected Kerala High Court ordered to release the film and pay back the amount to depositors from the film's collections. The Court ordered Navodaya productions to take care of the release and give report to the Court, showing faith in Navodaya Appachan.
3D visionary
Appachan was the visionary behind India's first 3D movie, My Dear Kuttichathan. His Padayottam, which was inspired by Alexander Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo, was South India's first 70-mm movie. Directed by his son Jijo, the movie broke all box office records and ran to full houses for several months. Appachan had also directed Thacholi Ambu, the first Cinemascope movie in Malayalam. An expert in reading the pulse of the movie buffs, Appachan had the courage to take risks when the Malayalam film industry was hesitant to experiment with new themes and technology. Sharing his experience of making Padayottam, Appachan had said that the project was met with skepticism from many people. But it turned out to be a success. Besides introducing state-of-the-art technology in Malayalam, Appachan also enjoyed the credit of moulding the careers of some of the best talent in the Malayalam film industry. The popular names include the directors Fazil, Sibi Malayil, Priyadarsan, T.K. Rajeevkumar and Jijo; the music directors Jerry Amaldev and Mohan Sithara; and the actors Mohanlal, Sankar, Poornima and Baby Shalini.
Death
Appachan died on 23 April 2012 in Kochi. The end came in a hospital around 6.40 p.m. Doctors at the hospital, where he was admitted on 18 April, said the death occurred from age-related illnesses.
