Dubai: The death of Dubai-based distributor and producer of Malayalam films, Santhosh Kumar, has sent shockwaves among his colleagues in the South Indian film industry.
Kumar, the founder of distribution company Souparnika Films in Kerala, was found dead on Tuesday along with his wife and nine-year-old daughter at his home in Al Nahda. A case of a suicide pact, allegedly owing to his financial troubles, is being looked into.
“He was like a brother to me … He was the most down-to-earth person that I have ever met,” said G. Suresh Kumar, who has produced over 25 Malayalam films under the banner Revathy Kalamandhir. Santhosh and he worked together for the distribution of his two films Neelathamara and Rathinirvedham.
“I don’t know how all this happened and I can’t imagine what he was going through. I knew he had some financial problems … but what has happened is rare and unfortunate. The producers and distributors are often the real losers in this film industry,” said Kumar. Many of his colleagues believed that he was in financial trouble.
“I met him in Dubai this May … he had told me that he had suffered a lot of setbacks in business. But we never expected such an end,” said Kumar. He added that Santhosh had left the film industry and film distribution in 2012. Producer B.C. Joshi, who poured money into films such as Madambi featuring superstar Mohanlal and Pramani featuring Mammooty, described Santhosh as a “thorough gentleman”.
“In 2010, he was my distributor for Pramani for the South Kerala region. He’s the nicest person that I have met in this film field. All our dealings were professional and neat … And as a person, he was very generous and helped many in the film business. Unfortunately, nobody returned that favour when he needed it most,” said Joshi in Malayalam.
According to Santhosh Kumar’s colleagues, he began his production company, Souparnika Films, in 2007 but moved to Dubai a few years later. He worked briefly in Kuwait too.
