Sree Ram, the Krav Maga instructor and actor best known for his role in the 2019 Tamil romantic anthology film Sillu Karuppatti died after slipping and falling from the terrace of his house in Besant Nagar in Chennai, on Saturday. He was 60.
Sree Ram was found lying on the sunshade of his house by family members, a police official from J5 Sastri Nagar police station, who did not want to be named, told Silverscreen India.
“He had fallen on the sunshade of the house. After the family members were alerted by neighbours, his body was found and brought down. We were notified of the incident at around 8 am by his family members. As of now, we believe that he died on spot after suffering head injuries. The exact reason for the death is yet to be ascertained by the doctors,” the police official said.
Sree Ram who acted in Sillu Karuppatti alongside dancer Leela Samson, was a noted martial arts trainer in Tamil Nadu. He has trained members of the Chennai City Police, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), and warders of the Tamil Nadu Prison Department among others in Krav Maga, the “self-defence system developed by the Israel Defense Forces for training military personnel”. He has also trained actor Amala Paul for the upcoming Tamil film Adho Andha Paravai Pola and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap for the 2018 Tamil psychological thriller Imaikkaa Nodigal.
Sree Ram also conducted workshops for women and girls in various schools, colleges, and companies across Tamil Nadu to teach them Krav Maga.
Director of Tamil Nadu Police Academy and former city police commissioner of Madurai, Davidson Devasirvatham, who has worked with the late instructor in police assignments, described Sree Ram as a “fitness freak” and a “good friend”.
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Speaking with Silverscreen India, Davidson said “I have known him for nearly five years. He was a simple, down-to-earth person with absolutely no arrogance or ego. He had a wide variety of interests- one of which was improving police training through Krav Maga. I had planned to take him to the Police Academy in February for another Krav Maga training session.”
Sree Ram’s body has been sent to Government Royapettah Hospital in Chennai for post mortem investigation. He is survived by his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren.