Veteran Malayalam art director Kitho died on Tuesday, aged 83. He’s survived by his wife Lily and two children. The veteran was suffering from kidney ailments for quite some time. He passed away at a hospital in Kochi where he was undergoing treatment. The funeral was reportedly held at St Francis Xavier’s Church.

In 1970, Kitho made his film debut as an art director in the I V Sasi film Ee Manohara Theeram. In 1972, he collaborated with childhood friend scriptwriter Kaloor Dennis and started a magazine called Chitra Pournami. He ultimately ended up working as an art director in 30 films, spanning over a 40-year career. He has also had some production work to his credit, producing the Kamal-directed film Unnikrishnante Adhyathe Christmas alongside Kaloor Dennis.

An accomplished artist, Kitho utilised his expertise, creating beautiful art for companies with painting sketches and illustrations in an era preceding that of the use of computer graphics in film. He had his firm called Kitho Illustration and Graphics in Kochi which had many established and renowned companies as its clients.

In films, some of his frequent collaborators include Jeasy, KG George, PG Vishwambharan, IV Sasi, KG Rajasekharan, Joshi, Sajan, and Sibi Malayil. Kitho’s final project was for the Madhu Kaithapram-directed film Orma Mataram, which was released in 2011. Some of the other films that Kitho had worked on are Oppol, Eeran Sandhya, Ambada Njaane, Asthram, Miss Pameela, Ee Manoharatheeram and Oppol.

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