Popular Tamil filmmaker, cinematographer and actor Velu Prabhakaran died in a private hospital in Chennai in the early hours of Friday (28 July). His relatives confirmed that he died of prolonged illness. Filmmaker was in the intensive care unit (ICU) for the last few days in the serious situation.

His mortal remains will be kept for a public tribute from Saturday evening (19 July) from Sunday afternoon (20 July) in Valasravakkam, Chennai. The film industry has been mourning the death of Velu Prabhakaran since the breakdown of the news. The cremation will take place in the presence of close families and friends on Sunday evening at Porur crematorium.

The filmmaker was first married to actor-director Jayadevi. Years after his separation, he remarried at the age of 60. In 2017, she married actor Sherly Das, who starred in her 2009-film ‘Kadhal Kadhai’.

Velu Prabhakaran’s career

Velu made his film debut as a cinematographer. In 1989, he started his direction with the 1989 film, Nala Moneythan ‘. A year later, he removed his sequel, ‘Adisa Moneythan’. After tasting two consecutive failures with ‘Asuran and Rajali’, Velu attracted his attention to Heling in the late 90s and in the early 2000s.

In 2004, in 2004, he began working on a film called ‘Kadhal Arangam’, which is characterized by Preeti Rangayani of new people and Sherly Das. The film touched subjects including caste system, sexuality. However, the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) objected to some scenes and dialogues. After a few years, the director agreed to remove objectionable scenes and remove some dialogues from ‘Kadhal Arangam’ to ‘Kadhal Kadai’, besides removing some dialogues.

A video message was added to his film, where he faced those difficulties over the years. He also said that parts of the film were autobiographical. However, the film was unanimously conveyed by the audience.

In 2009, a series of films that the director decided to mount. In 2017, he helped his last direction, ‘Oru Iyakunarin Kadal Diary’.

Since 2019, Velu Prabhakaran has been taking acting projects. Some of his remarkable films include ‘Gangs of Madras’, ‘Cadever’, ‘Pizza 3: The Mummy’, ‘Red’, ‘Weapon’ and ‘Appu Vi STD’. His last on-screen appearance was in ‘Ghazana’.