Director Belraj Kalarickal, also known as Chegu, died in Ernakulam on Saturday, October 17. He was 28. Reports said the cause of death was a heart attack.
His death came two days after his first series as director, Kappi Squad, began streaming on JioHotstar on October 15. JioHotstar Malayalam paid tribute to him on X.
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Years with Rahul Riji Nair's team
Belraj spent most of his career working with filmmaker Rahul Riji Nair. He was an associate director on Kallanottam (2020) and on Kho-Kho (2021), the sports drama starring Rajisha Vijayan and Mamitha Baiju. He was chief associate director on Keedam (2022), with Rajisha Vijayan, Vijay Babu and Sreenivasan, and again on Flask (2025). He also worked as an assistant director on Nizhal (2021).
Kappi Squad
Kappi Squad, a comedy-drama about a group of young friends, is produced by Rahul Riji Nair's First Print Studios and created by Srikanth Mohan. Rinosh George leads the cast. The series was Belraj's first project as an independent director. Shooting had reportedly been completed on 36 episodes. Read more about the series in our Kappi Squad streaming story.
Before Kappi Squad
A native of Manimala in Kottayam, Belraj also worked as an assistant and associate director on films including Madhuram and Dakini. He was one of the admins of Movie Street, a film community on Facebook, according to reports.
First Print Studios announced Kappi Squad in June 2026 as a long-running JioHotstar original, planned at around 100 episodes. The series is written by Adithya Thejas and Subin George. Apart from Rinosh George, Anagha Ajith, Diya Deepan, Joel Joseph and Abhirami Dayanandan are in the cast. Rakesh Dharan and Jayakrishnan Vijayan handled the camera, with Appu Bhattathiri as editor and Sidhartha Pradeep as composer.
Four episodes had streamed on JioHotstar by the time of his death. Reports said he was found in a hotel room in Kochi, where he had been staying with the series' show director.
Belraj married Athira in September this year. He is survived by his wife, his parents Suresh and Smitha, and his sister Soja.
Also read: Composer Deva dies at 75: his Malayalam songs and Rajinikanth's title card
