Navodaya Appachan

Maliampurackal Chacko Punnoose, known as Navodaya Appachan (06 February 1925 – 23 April 2012) was an Indian film producer, director, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his work in Malayalam cinema, especially as the founder of Navodaya Studio. Appachan was born at Maliampurackal Family Pulinkunnoo and was an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai. He was married and had two sons and two daughters. He died on 23 April 2012 at Kochi, aged 88. Movies he produced include Manjil Virinja Pookkal and My Dear Kuttichathan. The latter was the first 3D movie made in India and released as Chota Chetan in Hindi. He is the founder of Navodaya Studio. He created of Bible Ki Kahaniyan on Doordarshan. He first became involved in the film industry with his brother, Kunchacko, at Udaya Studio. The first cinemascope film in Malayalam was directed by him, and the Malayalam Padayottam which was the first indigenously shot 70mm movie in South India, was produced by him. He founded Kishkinta, India's first theme park, in Chennai. He was given the 2011 J. C. Daniel Award for contributions to Malayalam cinema. As far as the verdict on Kadathanadan Ambadi, the film was originally produced by Sajan Vargheese for Saj Productions. He was the head of Saj financial group and when the company faced loss, the respected Kerala High Court ordered to release the film and pay back the amount to depositors from the film's collections. The Court ordered Navodaya productions to take care of the release and give report to the Court, showing faith in Navodaya Appachan.