Malayalam author, actor and screenwriter, P Balachandran, died in Kerala on April 5 after his battle with brain fever.
He was 69 and was last seen on the big screen with actor Mammootty in the political drama ‘One’ as a political leader.
According to report in India Today, the actor was bedridden for the last eight months and was undergoing treatment for meningitis. He died around 5am today.
The final rites will be held at his home in Vaikom in Kerala this evening.
Born as Padmanabhan Balachandran Nair in 1952, he began career as an extra in Richard Attenborough’s landmark 1982 film ‘Gandhi’ and has appeared in films including ‘Silence’ and ‘Trivandrum Lodge’.
Before he plunged into acting, Balachandran was an acclaimed playwright and had won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for ‘Paavam Usman’ in 1989. In the same year, he also won the Kerala Professional Drama Award for ‘Prathiroopangal’.
He is survived by his wife Srilatha and children Srikanth and Parvathy.
As soon as the news emerged of his demise, actors including Dulquer Salmaan, Prithviraj and Mohanlal expressed their condolences on their social media accounts.
“RIP dearest Baletta,” wrote Salmaan on his Instagram account.
