SP Jananathan, the Tamil filmmaker whose directorial debut Iyarkai (2003) won a National Film Award, was admitted to the ICU ward in Apollo Hospital in Chennai after he became unwell at his residence on Thursday evening.
Jananathan had been working on the post-production of his Tamil film Laabam, starring Vijay Sethupathi and Shruti Haasan.
The film’s assistant director Balaji told Silverscreen India that Jananathan was working on editing at his office near his home.
“After finishing the editing work, he had gone to his home for a lunch break. Sometime later, one of the assistants at the office got a call from him, asking him to come immediately. When we reached there, he was vomiting and sweating. He later fell unconscious. We called the ambulance and took him to his doctor at the BSS hospital in Mandaveli [Chennai]. This was around 4 pm to 5 pm,” he said.
Balaji said that Janathan was taken to Apollo Hospital on his doctor’s advice.
“He is in a critical condition, a few specialised doctors are expected to attend to him. Blood circulation to the brain has stopped. He is still unconscious, but has not slipped into a coma. We are expecting neuro specialists to come anytime soon,” he said.
Balaji said that the post-production works of Laabam were in the final stages when the filmmaker fell ill.
Sethupathy, and filmmakers Ameer and Karu Palaniappan visited the hospital, while several people wished Janathan a speedy recovery on social media.
தமிழ்த் திரையுலகில் எனக்கிருக்கும் ஒரே ஆத்மார்த்தமான நட்பு நீங்கள் தான். மீண்டு வந்திடுங்க தோழர் ஜனா. pic.twitter.com/JQ924NXpcb
— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) March 12, 2021
உங்களைப் போன்ற தோழர்களின் பங்களிப்பு கலைத்துறையிலும், களத்திலும் எப்போதும் தேவை.. மீண்டு வாருங்கள் தோழர் #SPJananathan pic.twitter.com/4dJ8tmhlOK
— leninbharathi (@leninbharathi1) March 11, 2021
The 61-year-old filmmaker has also directed the 2009 Tamil action-drama Peranmai and the 2015 sports action Tamil film Bhooloham, both starring Jayam Ravi.
