Milan Fernandez, the acclaimed art director for various Tamil films such as ‘Billa’, ‘Veluyantham’, ‘Vedalam’, and ‘Oram Po,’ among many others, tragically died of a heart attack in Azerbaijan. He was 54 years old.
The news of his passing was confirmed by popular Malayalam actor Prem Kumar, who took to his X handle, formerly called Twitter, and posted a picture of himself with Milan.
He wrote: “Omg shocking Art director #Milan sir no more. Very calm person, I knew him in #Thunivu. Too soon to go... my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends, it happened in #Azerbaijan #VidaaaMuyarchi #ripmilan (sic).”
Tamil actor Jayaram Ravi expressed his condolences on X, and wrote: “Shocked to hear about the passing away of Art Director #Milan. My heartfelt condolences to his family during this difficult time.”
Born in Chennai, Milan began working in the Tamil film industry from 1999 as assistant art director. Initially, he worked with art director Sabu Cyril in films like ‘Spoken’, ‘Tamilian’, ‘Villain’, and ‘Stranger,’ among others.
Gradually, he shifted to becoming a solo art director where he designed much of the concept art and aesthetics for the 2006 film ‘Kalabha Kandhalan’ and the 2007 black-comedy, ‘Oram Po’.
He later was part of films ‘Vaitheeswaran’, ‘Solla Solla Inikkum’, and even made inroads into Malayalam cinema with the comedy film, ‘Padmasree Bharat Saroj Kumar’, in 2012.
Since 2006, Milan Fernandez has worked in more than 30 movies and also lent his expertise to commercials. Some of his more recent art works are featured in films such as ‘Oxygen’, ‘Sammy 2’, ‘Jaani’, ‘Bogun’, and ‘Saagasam,’ among others.
His last film was in director Siva’s upcoming period-action Tamil film, ‘Kanguva,’ which stars Suriya, Disha Patani, Bobby Deol, Yogi Babu, Ravi Raghavchandra, Kovai Sarala, and Redin Kingsley, among others. The film will hit theatres in 2024.
