Filmmaker Ashish Kakkad no more

Ahmedabad: Known Gujarati filmmaker, actor and voice artist, Ashish Kakkad, passed away on Monday afternoon due to heart attack. He was 49 years old. He had gone to Kolkata to celebrate his son’s birthday, where he developed health complications, sources said.
Kakkad was the first filmmaker to have made a Gujarati film in the modern urban backdrop. His directorial debut ‘Better Half’ in 2010 was set in changed urban milieu and was viewed as a contrast to the convention of portraying social issues in rural backdrop in Gujarati cinema.His second directorial venture was ‘Mission Mummy’ in 2016. Kakkad had acted in various movies including a couple of Hindi films, the most famous of them being Kai Po Chhe!.
Kakkad was also a famous voice-over artist. Lately, he was busy lending his voice to numerous documentaries and short films in Gujarati. He was a popular choice for commentary in short films because of his impressive voice.
Many filmmakers who succeeded later in exploring vivid subjects with urban background in Gujarati movies credit Kakkad for his path-breaking film. One of them, Abhishek Jain, said, “When he was making Better Half, I had gone to his set. I was planning to make ‘Kevi Rite Jaish’ but I had certain doubts about the subject. After seeing him work, my confidence grew and it was Kakkad who clapped the slate in the opening shot of my film. While many believe that Kevi Rite Jaish was the first film of this genre with city background, Kakkad was the real pioneer, I would say.”