Veteran filmmaker Velu Prabhakaran breathed his last on July 18. He was 68. According to a report in Deccan Herald, the veteran actor was undergoing treatment for a prolonged illness and was hospitalised for 10 days. Tamil film maker and actor Velu Prabhakaran died in the early hours of Friday (July 28) at a private hospital in Chennai. His relatives have confirmed that he died due to prolonged illness.
The filmmaker was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in a critical condition for the last few days.
His body will be kept for public homage at Valasaravakkam in Chennai from Saturday evening (July 19) to Sunday afternoon (July 20). The film industry has been mourning the death of Velu Prabhakaran ever since the news broke. His last rites will be performed on Sunday evening at the Porur crematorium in the presence of his close family and friends.
The filmmaker was previously married to actress-director Jayadevi. After several years of separation, he remarried at the age of 60. In 2017, he married actress Shirley Das, who worked in his 2009 film ‘Kadhal Kadhai’. Velu started his film career as a cinematographer. In 1989, he turned director with the film ‘Naalaya Manithan’. A year later, he directed its sequel ‘Adhisaaya Manithan’.
After two consecutive failures, ‘Asuran’ and ‘Rajali’, Velu focused on directing action films in the late 90s and early 2000s. In 2004, he began work on a film titled ‘Kadhal Arangam’, starring Preeti Rangayani and Shirley Das in the lead roles. The film raised issues such as the caste system and sexuality. However, the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) objected to some scenes and dialogues.
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