Kottayam: Veteran Malayalam actor-director P Balachandran passed away here on Monday. He was 70. He was bedridden for the past few months and was undergoing treatment. He was declared dead early on Monday at about 5 am.

Last year he was admitted to a private hospital  for meningitis. He was in the intensive care unit and was on life support back then.

He is survived by wife Sreelatha and two children, Sreekanth and Parvathy.

Born as Padmanabhan Balachandran Nair, Balachandran is also  known for his works in Malayalam literature and cinema. A noted playwright, Balachandran is best known for the play 'Paavam Usman' for which he won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Professional Nataka Award in 1989.

Balachandran stepped into the cine world by writing dialogues for the 1991 Mohanlal-starrer Uncle Bun. Later, in 1995, he made his acting debut with Agnidevan, also starring Mohanlal in the lead. In the meantime, he scripted many films including Ulladakkam, Pavithram, Punaradhivasam and Kammattipaadam among others.

His directorial debut was Ivan Megharoopan which won several honours at the Kerala State Film Awards 2011.

He last wrote script for the Tovino Thomas-starrer Edakkad Battalion 06 and also acted in this movie which was released last year. He also acted in TK Rajeev Kumar's movie Kolaambi which is yet to hit the screens though it was premiered at the International Film Festival of India, 2019. He was last seen in the recently released movie One and Operation Java.