Vivek, a well-known Tamil actor, and comedian died on Saturday at Chennai’s SIMS hospital. He was 59 years old at the time.
After suffering a heart attack on Friday, the Padma Shri awardee actor was admitted to the SIMS hospital in Vadapalani’s intensive care unit. The 59-year-old actor is said to have fainted after showing pain, and his family rushed him to Vadapalani’s SIMS Hospital while he was unconscious. Later, he had an emergency coronary angiogram and angioplasty.
The actor’s condition was described as severe, and he was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
On Thursday, the award-winning actor made headlines for his attempts to dispel public skepticism of the COVID vaccine. Rather than going to a private doctor, he decided to get vaccinated at a government hospital in order to raise awareness.
For his social reformative dialogues in Tamil cinema, the acclaimed comedian Vivek was known as ‘Chinna Kalaivanar.’ In 2009, the union government presented him with the Padma Shri Award, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor. He appeared in more than 200 films.
As an environmentalist, Vivek launched a campaign to plant a billion trees across Tamil Nadu after being urged to do so by former President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Vivek, who most recently appeared in Dharala Prabhu, a Tamil remake of the Hindi film Vicky Donor, is also set to appear in director Shankar’s upcoming film Indian 2, which will star Kamal Haasan.
Vivek was founded in the late 1980s by legendary filmmaker K Balachander. He went on to become one of Tamil cinema’s most sought-after comedy stars, and he still has a foothold in the industry.
Vivek was a playback singer and an activist in addition to being an actress and comedian. He was well-known for his roles in films such as Perazhagan, Run, Saamy, Unnaruge Naan Irundhal, Anniyan, and Sivaji, to name a few.
