Kunal Singh (29 September 1976 – 7 February 2008), known professionally as Kunal, was an Indian actor who mainly appeared in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

films. He is best known for his romantic role in

Kathir Kathir is an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Early life Kathir was born in kalkarai, a small village in the Radhapuram Taluk of Tirunelveli District, state of Tamil Nadu, India. Kathi ...

's ''

Kadhalar Dhinam ''Kadhalar Dhinam'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romance film written and directed by Kathir. It is based on a love relationship which begins through an internet chatroom and takes a turn after the protagonist has second thoughts about th ...

'' (1999), which is Kunal's debut super-hit film.

Career

Kunal was born on 1976 in

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

, India. He was introduced in

's 1999 romantic Tamil film ''

'', alongside

Sonali Bendre Sonali Bendre (born 1 January 1975) is an Indian actress primarily known for her work in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. She did modelling assignments prior to making her acting debut with '' Aag'' (1994), which won her the Filmfare Award for N ...

, a popular Bollywood actress that time. He played a young student who falls in love with Bendre's character over the internet. After the relative success of ''Kadhalar Dhinam'', Kunal appeared in a series of Tamil films like '' Paarvai Ondre Pothume'' (2001) and ''

Punnagai Desam ''Punnagai Desam'' () is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Shajahan. The film was produced by R. B. Choudary under the production banner Super Good films. The film stars Tharun, Sneha, Kunal, Hamsavardhan, Dhamu and P ...

'' (2002). Those films were relatively successful. Then, he appeared in many flops like '' Pesadha Kannum Pesume'', '' Enge Enadhu Kavithai'' and ''

Unarchigal ''Unarchigal'' () is a 1976 Indian Tamil-language film co-written and directed by R. C. Sakthi in his directorial debut. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Srividya. It is a highly sensuous film which deals with sexually transmitted diseases, a ...

''. Several of his later films were started and then shelved, like Nava's ''Nilavinilae'' opposite Vijayalakshmi, ''Kimu Kipi'' opposite Susan, and Rithik's ''Kadhalithal Anandam'', which would have featured him alongside Livingston and Kausalya. Moreover, two films which he had signed opposite actress Sherin Shringar, Jai Adithya's ''Kadhal Thiruda'' and Nanda's ''Thodu'', were shot and unreleased. When he was unable to find roles as an actor, he served as assistant editor for several films and turned to producing. His last film release in Tamil was '' Nanbanin Kadhali'', which released in 2007.

Death

On 7 February 2008, Kunal was found hanging from the ceiling in his

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

apartment by actress Lavina Bhatia. The apparent suicide was challenged by his father Rajendra Singh who claimed that the body showed signs of suspicious bruising. Bhatia was detained by police in connection with his death, but she was later released after the police could not prove a motive. The police were unable to prove that anyone was present in Kunal's apartment at the time of his death and ruled out Bhatia as a suspect; furthermore, Kunal had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists several months earlier. At the time of his death, Kunal was working on a Hindi film, ''Yogi'', which was being produced by his newly formed production company Balagiri. The case was referred to CBI and Prof T D Dogra of

All India Institute of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , Government of India. These institutes ha ...

. He examined the scene of crime along with CBI and opined in favor of suicide.

Filmography

*''All films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Kunal Indian male film actors 1976 births 2008 deaths Male actors from Haryana Male actors in Tamil cinema Suicides by hanging in India Tamil actors 2008 suicides Artists who committed suicide