Hyderabad: In the history of the National Awards for Indian Cinema, there would not have been a winner for the best director award which was given posthumously. Advocate K R Sachidhandndan, popularly known as Sachy, had just started showcasing his directorial master craft with the commercially successful movie, Ayyappanum Koshiyum. But he was gone too soon, not waiting to hear that he has won a national award for being the best director in the country through his movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
His lead woman character in the movie, played by Aparna Balamurali, bagged the award for best actress, one of the protagonists, played by Biju Menon won the national award for best supporting actor, and his playback singer Nanchiyamma, a tribal woman whom Sachy found from the hillocks of Attappadi, bagged the national award for the best playback singer.
Sachy died at the age of 47 in 2020, just a few months after the release of his only second directorial venture, Ayyappanum Koshiyum. And when the announcement regarding the award came, most of his co-workers are feeling the pain of him not being around them to celebrate this win.
Sachy, first became popular as a screenplay writer in the Malayalam movie industry when he got associated with writer Sethunath and penned several scripts under the joint pen name 'Sachy-Sethu'. The duo created several hits in Malayalam and later parted ways when the companionship no longer created magic.
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As an independent scriptwriter, Sachy had many successes to his credit and later he became a director through his debut film, Anarkali in the year 2015. But Sachy's talent in handling complex psychological subjects became popular with the story of Driving Licence, which he penned in the year, 2019. The movie was a runaway hit. He polished this skill and put it at a full show in the movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum. The movie, which revolved around an ego fight between a police officer and a local rich brat, got rave reviews across the country.
The movie was later re-made in Telugu, starring Pawan Kalyan and Rana Daggubatti. The movie is also coming in Hindi. When his name is being discussed across the country, Sachy is not around and he will not be there to receive the award from the President of India. However, with one last movie, he had created a sense of permanent loss for the lovers of cinema.
