Raman Ashok Kumar, popularly known as Ashokan, a director of Malayalam films, passed away on the night of Sunday, September 25, at a hospital in Kochi. He was 60 years old and suffered from multiple health issues. He had been admitted at the Lakeshore Hospital for nearly a month.
Raman had for years been an associate to renowned director J Sasikumar, who has made more than 130 films in Malayalam cinema. The first film Ashokan independently directed was Varnam in 1989. A psychological drama with Suresh Gopi and Jayaram and Ranjini in the lead, it was noted for its unique storytelling. Ashokan had also scripted the film. His second film Acharyan with a number of actors including Thilakan, Suresh Gopi, Vineeth and Sreenivasan, was written by journalist-scriptwriter B Jayachandran.
Ashokan also worked with noted director of comedies, Thaha. Together, they directed two films - Sandram and Mookkilla Rajyathu. Sandram was also a psychological thriller telling the story of a newly married couple, who get in trouble when the wife is stalked by a psychopath, her lover from the past. Suresh Gopi and Parvathi and Sai Kumar played the lead in the film. In his final film, again with Thaha, Ashokan took a shot at comedy. Mookkilla Rajyathu is still popular among Malayalam comedies, showing the lives of four men with mental health issues who escape from a hospital and try to find a life for themselves. Mukesh, Thilakan, Siddique and Jagathy Sreekumar played the four men.
However, after these well-made films, Ashokan stopped directing movies for a while. In 2003, he came back with a telefilm called Melody of Loneliness, which won the Kerala state award the next year. But afterward, there was nothing. He had reportedly shifted to Singapore with his family and became a businessman. He was originally from Varkala, in Thiruvananthapuram district.