KOCHI: Filmmaker and Kerala State Film Development Corporation chairman Lenin Rajendran passed away at Apollo Hospital, Chennai, on Monday. He was admitted to the hospital for a liver transplant on November 11 and had been under treatment there. He was 66."Post-liver transplant, he developed pneumonia. The end came around 8.45pm on Monday," said Dr Anand Khakar, liver transplant surgeon at Apollo hospital. The mortal remains will be brought to Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.A recipient of several prestigious awards, Rajendran was born at Ooruttambalam in Thiruvananthapuram in 1952. He started his career as an assistant to director P A Baker. He had directed 15 critically acclaimed movies, from 'Venal' in 1982 to 'Edavappathi' in 2016.Film critic C S Venketeswaran feels that Lenin Rajendran would be remembered for blending a progressive outlook and romanticism in his films. "He did to films what ONV achieved in poetry combining progressive ideas with lyricism. Music had a very important role in his films," said Venketeswaran. Rajendran started his film career assisting P A Backer and debuted with Venal starring Sukumaran and Jalaja in 1981. His 1983 film Premnazeerine Kanmanilla in which actor Prem Nazeer played himself - a film star abducted by political extremists - was noted for its freshness. The first recognition came in 1987 when Swathi Thirunal, bagged a Kerala state special jury award.

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