THRISSUR: Actor and comedian Mala Aravindan (T K Aravindan), a veteran with over 400 films to his credit, passed away at a private hospital in Coimbatore on Wednesday morning. He was 76. Aravindan is survived by wife Geetha and children Kala and Muthu.
He was undergoing treatment at the Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, Coimbatore, following cardiac arrest. He was on ventilator for the last four days. The death came around 6.20 am.
Born in 1939, at Vadavucode in Ernakulam, Mala Aravindan began his career as a tabla artist with amateur theatre groups in the central Kerala. He had to relocate to Mala from Ernakulam when his mother, who was a teacher then, got transferred to Mala.
He began his acting career in plays produced by National Theatres, Kottayam, and went on to associate with theatre groups such as Natakasala and Suryasoma before beginning a film career that spanned around four decades. Noted films include Aalorungi Arangorungi, Thadavara, Pappan Priyappetta Pappan, Loose Loose Arappiri Loose, Ammavanu Pattiya Amali, Pattalam, Sallapam and Meesha Madhavan. God For Sale released in 2013 was his last film.
Aravindan made his film debut in 1976 with the film Sindhooram, directed by Balakrishnan after 12 years of life dedicated to theatre. Since then he has acted in over 400 films. Aravindan, who won the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi award for the best actor for his role in Sooryasoma play Nidhi, also bagged the Films critics association Chalachitra Prathiba Puraskaram in 2013.
The mortal remains of the late actor were kept at Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi auditorium in Thrissur and St Antony’s School, Mala, for the public to pay homage. Later, the body was taken to his house in Mala. His last rites would be performed at his house in Mala on Thursday.