CHENNAI: A week after he was admitted in a private hospital, veteran filmmaker K Balachander passed away. The director, who had fainted at his residence last week was brought to the Kauvery Hospital in Alwarpet and was admitted there last Monday.
He was 84 and had undergone a surgery to remove a brain tumour only a month prior. A week later, his condition quickly deteriorated and he slipped into a coma.
After a day long struggle, the man who was the uncontested guru of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan was declared dead at 7 pm.
He had suffered a massive heart attack at 6.40 pm and had succumbed to it. "His infection had heightened and his weakness did not help. The fever was under control but there was very little that we could do given his age," said a hospital spokesperson.
The genius behind evergreen hits like Thillu Mullu and several other films, KB as he was fondly known, was improving with care - but it did not last. There were signs that he may well beat this bout of bad health, but despite the doctors' best efforts, KB passed on.
During the end, just before he was pronounced dead he was surrounded by his son Prasanna, his daughter Pushpa and his assistant Mohan besides a few others. Immediately after, they were inconsolable and had to be removed from the ICU, given their state of grief. His funeral is expected to be held on Thursday, pending arrangements.
Hospital sources added that he had been on dialysis for the last 4 days, as his kidneys were completely damaged, "The urinary infection that he had come in with had affected his kidneys badly. He had improved on dialysis, but his age factor was too much to battle. He went into kidney failure and then passed away after he had a cardiac arrest," said the source.
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