Photos: Suriya, Trisha Krishnan, S. Shankar pay last respects to Tamil actor Vivekh

Suriya, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan and S. Shankar pay their last respects to late actor Vivekh. All Pictures/Pallav Paliwal

Tamil movie comedian and Padma Shri recipient Vivekh passed away on Saturday at a private hospital in Chennai. He was 59. He was admitted to SIMS Hospital on Friday morning after showing "acute coronary syndrome with cardiogenic shock". Vivekh was in a critical condition and was put on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) support, the hospital said.

According to the doctors, Vivekh had complained to his family members about chest pain. Condoling his death, Telangana Governor and Lt. Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan said Vivekh through his comedy dialogues had spread good social messages and earned the sobriquet "Chinna Kalaivannara" or Little Kalaivannar (Late Tamil movie comedian N.S. Krishnan had the sobriquet Kalaivannar) and was also an environmentalist in planting lakhs of tree saplings.

His body was brought to a crematorium in Mettukuppam, Virugambakkam, and actors and colleagues from the South Indian film industry arrived to pay their last respects. Tamil star Suriya was seen accompanied by Karthi.

Trisha Krishnan also arrived to pay her respects. She had taken to her Twitter account to mourn the demise of the actor with a heartbreak emoji.

S. Shankar also came in to pay his respects. The filmmaker collaborated with Vivekh in two of his blockbusters in 2005 and 2007, Anniyan and Sivaji: The Boss. Both films were massive blockbusters.

Another very successful and popular comedian Yogi Babu also arrived to pay his last respects. For the unversed, Yogi Babu has acted in the Hindi juggernaut Chennai Express in 2013.

Not only actors and filmmakers, but hundreds of fans of the late actor also gathered to pay their last respects.

Vivekh born as Vivekanandan in Kovilpattin, Tamil Nadu, made his entry into the Tamil movie field in 1987 in the movie "Manathil Urudhi Vendum" directed by the late K. Balachander. Soon he was in great demand and has acted with top heroes like Rajinikanth, Vijay, Ajith, Suriya and others. He has acted in over 200 movies. Vivekh was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009 and the Kalaivannar award from the Tamil Nadu government.