Noted Malayalam film director and scriptwriter K R Sachidanandan, whose last film "Ayyappanum Koshiyum' released just before the COVID-19 outbreak was a smash hit, died at a private hospital in Thrissur.

He was 48. The director was admitted to the Jubilee Mission hospital on Tuesday after he suffered a heart attack and had been on ventilator support since then, film industry sources said. He died on Thursday night, they said.

"Ayyappanum Koshiyum", starred Prithviraj and Biju Menon. Sachidanandan's directorial debut "Anarkali", a Malayalam romantic thriller, was released in 2015. A criminal lawyer by profession, Sachidanandan entered the film world as a script writer with Sethunath for the film "Chocolate" in 2007.

The cremation will be held at Ravipuram here on Friday afternoon, the sources said.