Kochi: Popular Mollywood director Siddique passed away while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kochi on Tuesday.
The 68-year-old director is survived by his wife Sajitha and three daughters -- Saumya, Sara, and Sukoon.
His mortal remains will be placed at the Indoor Stadium at Kadavanthra from 9 am to 11.30 am on Wednesday for the public to pay homage. The funeral will be held at Ernakulam Central Juma Masjid at 6 pm on Wednesday.
Born in 1955 as the son of Ismayil Rawther and Sainaba of ‘Sainabas’ at Kaloor in Ernakulam, Siddique made his directorial debut in 1989 with the superhit Malayalam movie ‘Ramji Rao Speaking’.
Besides directing numerous hit movies, he also worked as a screenwriter, actor, and producer.
Siddique completed his education at the Government High School in Kaloor, St Paul's College Kalamassery, and the Maharaja's College, Ernakulam.
He entered the film industry as an assistant to veteran filmmaker Fazil in 1983. Fazil zeroed in on both Siddique and Lal, who had been working with the Cochin Kalabhavan then. Six years later, the duo joined hands to direct movies, leading to the creation of several popular hit movies in Malayalam.
Though the two parted ways years later, Siddique continued to work as a film director and went on to don the director’s hat in Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu movies as well.
Some of the major films directed by Siddique are -- 'Ramji Rao Speaking', 'In Harihar Nagar', 'God Father', 'Vietnam Colony,' 'Kabuliwalah', 'Hitler', 'Friends', 'Chronic Bachelor', 'Bodyguard' (Malayalam and Hindi), 'Kavalan' (Tamil), 'Ladies and Gentleman', 'Bhaskar the Rascal', 'Fukri' and 'Big Brother'.
He also wrote the screenplay for a handful of movies, besides trying his hand at acting. Siddique also worked as an anchor on several television shows. He won the Kerala State Film Award in 1991.
Siddique, who had been active in the professional mimicry scene, was a member of Cochin Kalabhavan and Harishree, the two major mimicry troupes in Kochi. Being introduced to Fazil through Ansar, one of his friends, Siddique and Lal, collaborated for the very first time as Assistant Directors in the movie ‘Nokketha Doorathu Kannum Nattu’.
Years later, the duo planned and worked together to bring ‘Ramji Rao Speaking’ onto the silver screen and scripted history. The Siddique-Lal combo, who celebrated the stories of friendship with a tinge of humour and rolled out several superhits, parted ways with the super hit movie ‘Kabuliwalah’ in 1994.
Some of the superhit movies that the duo brought out together are -- 'Ramji Rao Speaking', 'In Harihar Nagar', 'God Father', 'Vietnam Colony', and 'Kabuliwalah'.
Later, Lal also produced ‘Hitler’ and ‘Friends' directed by Siddique.
