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Sunil Babu, art director for Sita Ramam, upcoming Varisu, dies at 50

During his illustrious career, Sunil worked as the art director for several films including Vijay’s ‘Varisu’, ‘Sita Ramam’, ‘Bangalore Days’, ‘Premam’, ‘Ghajini’ and others.
Art director Sunil Babu, who passed away at the age of 50
Art director Sunil Babu, who passed away at the age of 50
Written by:
TNM Staff

Noted art director and production designer Sunil Babu passed away in Kerala on Thursday, January 5. Sunil, who was 50 years old, passed away after suffering a major cardiac arrest at a hospital in Ernakulam. While he worked predominantly in the Malayalam film industry, he was also known for his work in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. Sunil’s latest work is for the much-awaited Tamil film Varisu starring Vijay, set to release on Pongal.

Apart from this, Sunil was known for his acclaimed work for the Malayalam films Premam, Bangalore Days, Urumi, Notebook and others, and he even won the Kerala State Film Award in the Best Art Director category for the 2005 film Ananthabhadram. Among his Bollywood films are Lakshya, Iqbal, Ghajini, Special 26 and others, and he also worked on the recently-released Telugu film Sita Ramam.

Sunil’s death came as a blow to Indian cinema. Several actors, directors and producers offered their condolences and penned heartfelt notes in Sunil’s memory. Actor Dulquer Salmaan, who starred in Sita Ramam and Bangalore Days, wrote: “Heart hurts. The kindest warmest soul who quietly went about his work with so much passion and made no noise about his immense talent. Suniletta thank you for the memories. You brought life to our films. Can’t come to terms with this. Praying for your family and all those who loved you dearly (sic).”

Malayalam director Anjali Menon took to social media to express her shock at Sunil’s death. “Utterly shocked to hear of Sunil Babu’s demise. We worked together on Bangalore Days and I have some wonderful memories that I will always hold dear. Rest in peace dear Sunil,” she wrote.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Dulquer Salmaan (@dqsalmaan)

Several condolence messages also came from members of the Telugu film fraternity, who also remembered Sunil as soft-spoken and immensely talented. Hanu Raghavapudi, who directed Sita Ramam, wrote on Twitter, “This is really heartbreaking and hard to digest! Can't believe he's no longer with us now. This shows, again, how life can be unfair and unpredictable. Rest in peace, #SunilBabu sir. The world will miss you.”

Sharing a video of Sunil from the sets of the Telugu film, the official Twitter handle of production company Vyjayanthi Movies said, “Deeply saddened to hear that #SunilBabu is no more... In your art, we will meet you again! Heartfelt condolences to his family (sic).” Noted human rights activist Sunitha Krishnan also expressed shock at his death. Sunitha produced the film Dahini - The Witch, for which Sunil was the art director. She wrote, “Shocked…still processing; dear friend.” 

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