Popular Malayalam filmmaker Vinu, who helmed a handful of hit movies in collaboration with director Suresh, died in a hospital in Coimbatore following a brief illness, industry sources said on Wednesday.

The 73-year-old filmmaker was admitted to the hospital recently for some abdomen-related ailments, the sources said.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

The Suresh-Vinu pair gave several successful Malayalam movies, including Mangalam Veettil Manaseshwari Gupta, Kusruthi Kattu and Ayushman Bhava among others.

Their last collaborative effort was the 2008 movie Kanichukulangarayil CBI.

FEFKA Directors’ Union, an organisation of Malayalam filmmakers, condoled his demise. Mr. Vinu was working on a new psychological thriller film, it said in a Facebook post.

He would be cremated in Coimbatore on Thursday, it added.