Kochi, Aug 8: Noted Malayalam director and screenwriter Siddique died at a private hospital here, his family said on Tuesday.

Siddique (63), who was undergoing treatment at Amrita hospital here for over a month for various ailments, suffered a heart attack on Monday, hospital sources said on Tuesday.

His end came at 9.13 PM today, the sources said.

The filmmaker, who had helmed numerous superhit Malayalam movies, was in a critical condition and was on ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), which provides respiratory support when a person's lungs and heart are not performing adequately.

Siddique delivered several hit movies along with his friend Lal -- who is also an actor who played leading roles in various hit films himself such as 'Thenkasipattanam', 'Thommanum Makkalum', and 'Salt and Pepper' among others -- and the filmmaker duo was popularly known as 'Siddique-Lal'.

'Siddique-Lal' movies such as 'Ramji Rao Speaking', 'In Harihar Nagar', 'Godfather', 'Vietnam Colony' and 'Kabooliwala' were massive hits.

Siddique is also the director of blockbuster movies including 'Hitler', 'Friends', 'Chronic Bachelor', and 'Bodyguard', among others.

He directed the remake of his movie 'Bodyguard' starring Salman Khan in Hindi, which also became a superhit. In Tamil, it was titled 'Kavalan' starring Vijay and did well at the box office.

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Jaipur, Dec 24: Efforts to rescue a three-year-old girl who fell into a 150 feet deep borewell in Kotputli-Behror district of Rajasthan continued on Tuesday.

The girl, Chetna, fell into the borewell while playing in the agriculture farm of her father on Monday.

SHO Sarund Mohammad Imran said teams of NDRF and SDRF are trying to rescue the girl safely.

Senior Commandant of NDRF Yogesh Meena said, "After failing to safely pull out the girl from the borewell with a ring rod, efforts are being made to pull her out with another local equipment made of iron plate."

The girl's actions were captured on camera and an oxygen pipe was lowered into the borewell to supply oxygen.

Two weeks ago, a five-year-old child fell into a borewell in Dausa district. The rescue operation to rescue the child safely lasted for more than 55 hours. However, by the time he was pulled out, the child had lost the battle of life.