Vadivelu Balaji’s Mother opens up about the depressing last days of the veteran comedian

Vadivel Balaji’s demise has left a void in the film industry. The popular stage comedian, earned his prefix after mimicking the famous Kollywood comedian Vadivelu.Balaji was admitted to a private hospital in the city following a heart attack and he was subsequently shifted to another private hospital after his condition deteriorated and led to paralysis. He was aged 45, is survived by his wife and a son and daughter. Some reports indicate that his family faced a severe financial crunch during the lockdown.

Speaking to a popular media, his mother Thilakavathy said, “We spent a lot of cash for his treatment. He suffered heart attack. His death had nothing to do with Corona – he was negative. Treatment wasn’t proper at the private hospitals.”* Soon enough, another family member pitched in and said, “He suffered a stroke because of which his mouth, legs, etc, were affected. They gave us false hopes citing physiotherapy was enough. As per their instruction, we gave him physiotherapy at home for two days. Till the end, they didn’t tell us anything negative. They said that within 5-10 days, he would be alright. We spent all the money we had. Our friends circle helped us. It was mostly the money he made. We didn’t take any monetary help from outside. We took him as a last resort to the government hospital since elsewhere we were paying money but there was no progress.We went to the Omanandur facility first. Since there were a lot of COVID cases, we proceeded to Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital. He was there for just a day.”*