Actor Kalabhavan Navas found dead in Kerala hotel room

KOCHI: Popular actor and mimicry artist Kalabhavan Navas, 51, was reportedly found dead in a hotel room in Chottanikkara on Friday. Preliminary reports suggest that he died of cardiac arrest.According to Chottanikkara police, Navas was discovered unresponsive in his hotel room around 8.30pm. He was staying there as part of the shooting of the movie Prakambanam. "We received information from the hotel that a person was found motionless in a room. He was immediately taken to SD Tata Hospital where he was declared dead. We are awaiting further details from the hospital," said an officer attached to Chottanikkara police station.Meanwhile, the hotel staff claimed that he was conscious while he was found lying under the hotel bed and died after leaving the hotel for the hospital. "As soon as he was found, the film crew arrived and rushed him to hospital," said an employee at the hotel. Navas made his film debut in Chaithanyam (1995). Later, he rose to fame with his performances in popular films such as Hitler Brothers (1997), Junior Mandrake (1997), Mattupetti Machan (1998), Chandamama (1999) and Thillana Thillana (2003).After a brief hiatus, he made a comeback with the role in Driving Licence in 2019. He had also acted in the film Detective Ujjwalan released this year.