Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 23 -- Renowned cultural activist, theatre director and founder of the Surya cultural movement, Surya Krishnamurthy, died at a private hospital here on Wednesday evening.

He was 78. Krishnamurthy, who had been undergoing treatment in critical condition for the past two weeks, leaves behind his wife Raji and children Seetha and Lakshmanan.

A prominent figure in Kerala's cultural landscape for more than four decades, Krishnamurthy was best known for transforming the Surya Stage and Film Society into a broad-based cultural movement encompassing cinema, theatre, classical dance, music, painting, photography, literature, children's theatre and folk arts.

Born as Nataraja Krishnamurthy in Kottayam on April 11, 1951, he...