Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 12 (IANS): I.V. Sasi, one of the most popular Malayalam film directors, was Monday announced winner of the prestigious J.C. Daniel award for 2014 in recognition of his sterling contributions to the Malayalam film industry.

The award that was announced here on Monday is considered the top one in the industry and given by the Kerala government to honour a film personality for the work he has done.

The jury for the award was chaired by eminent writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair, and comprised actor Madhu, and Kerala State Chalachitra Academy chairman T. Rajivnath among others.

The career of Sasi, 66, who hails from Kozhikode and is settled in Chennai, as a hugely successful director began after the stupendous success of "Avalude Raavukal (Her Nights)" in 1978 which told the tale of a prostitute, acted by Seema, who later became his wife.

The next two decades were glorious for Sasi, and as Mammootty and Mohanlal established themselves as superstars, he had the former starring in more than three dozen of his nearly 170 films.

Sasi also directed Mohanlal's all time hit" Devasuram" and both stars have acted together in a dozen of Sasi's films, after which they have been very rarely paired together.

Sasi's magic last worked in 2003 when "Balram Vs Tharadas" met with reasonable success. After that he did just one film and since then he has been in Chennai, while his wife Seema is seen more in TV screens than on the silver screen.

Sasi's biggest hit is "Angadi" in 1980 starring Jayan.