Tamil celebrities who took their own lives

Cinema is colorful yet dark. It appears beautiful yet it is ugly at parts. And it is the one of those field which creates star overnight and brings them down in a blink of an eye without any emotion. Many, who reached to its peak, have fallen down from the top and disappeared without a trace. The success only matters here and once you are on the downfall, the industry hardly comes to your rescue. The struggle, depressions and failures make even a strong-hearted successful man resort to the extreme step. Be it Hollywood's iconic star Marilyn Monroe or our own Silk Smitha, the failure was intolerable leading them to commit suicide. Not all have committed suicide due to their professional failures. There are people, who have taken lives due to their personal issues as if that is the only solution they can think of for their problems. The latest victim is young Jiah Khan, who had earlier worked with AR Murugadoss' Hindi film Ghajini starring Aamir Khan. On this occasion, we would like to recall those Tamil actors, who committed suicide.

 Silk Smitha:

Silk Smitha has been the one name in South films that is seen as a clear case of a successful actress seeing a drastic downfall. An ordinary woman rose to stardom with her bold acts. Producers made a beeline in front of her house for her call sheet. She appeared in over 400 films. But as the fate has it, Silk Smitha aka Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati, after ruling South films for over a decade, Smitha committed suicide by poisoning herself. Her financial problems, disillusionment in love and her downfall led to depression. 

Born: 2 December 1960

Died: 23 September 1996

Phataphat Jayalaxmi:

Phataphat Jayalaxmi or Fatafat Jayalakshmi donned grease paint with legendary K Balachander's film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai starring Kamal Hassan. Her career was going great with the actress working with big names of South like Rajini, Kamal, Chiranjeevi, Krishna and NTR before she allegedly fell in love with MGR's nephew. The love rejection reportedly made her to commit suicide.

Born: 1958 

Death: 1980

Urvashi Shobha:

Shobha, who was also known as Urvashi Shobha became popular as a child artist. She acted in all four Southern film industries. She set a new trend in realistic portrayals through memorable performances. Unfortunately, the actress could not work matters out with cinematographer-cum-director Balu Mahendra because he was married. She hanged herself after a tiff with him at the age of 17. 

Born: 23 September 1962 

Died: 1 May 1980

Kalpana Actress:

Kalpana, who was more popular in Kannada films, was most sought after actress of her times. She acted in a series of successful films. She became a household name with memorable roles and won National and State awards. But her career in the later part saw an unexpected downfall. She reached a position where she acted in stage plays for her survival. Her financial woes and personal problems made her end her life. 

Born: 8 July 1943 

Dead: 3 May 1979

Divya Bharti:

Divya Bharti basically worked in Hindi films. After working in South films, the actress was building a good career in Bollywood, but the actress shockingly ended her life at the age of 19. 

Born: 25 February 1974 

Died: April 5 1993

Mayoori:

Mayoori acted in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada films. The 22-year-old actress was found hanging from the ceiling fan of a room of her house.

Born: 1983 

Died: 16 June 2005

Monal:

Monal, the sister of Simran, committed suicide and shocked entire South industry. The actress appeared promising and was believed that she could make it big just like her sister. Her sister Simran accused choreographer, Prasanna Sujit, as a possible reason for her suicide claiming that Prasanna had broke off his relationship with her just days earlier.      

Born: 26 January 1981 

Died: 14 April 2002

Prathyusha:

Prathyusha was a budding actress and did a couple of films. Not wanting to succumb to parental opposition, she consumed a glass of juice with poison in her car at a public place and died. In true filmi style, Pratyusha and her lover had consumed poison a la Kamal Haasan-Rekha in the Tamil flick Punnagai Mannan. Pratyusha died, but her lover Siddartha Reddy survived. 

Died: 23 February 2002

Kunal:

Kunal, a charming actor, who won millions of hearts not only in Tamil Nadu, but also in India with Kadhalar Dhinam and its Hindi version Dil Hi Dil Mein faced a lot of failures after his first film. But his love failure made him to take the harsh decision on himself, as he hanged himself. 

Born: 1977 

Died: 7 February 2008

Viji:

A series of setbacks, starting with a messed-up knee surgery, indifferent career, and finally rejection by her lover, made Viji to end her life at the age of 18. She was in love with small-screen director AR Ramesh. Born: 1982 

Died: November, 2000