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

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

. 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. Produced by A. M. Rathnam od Sri Surya Movies, the film stars Kunal and Sonali Bendre in the lead roles, while Nassar, Manivannan, Goundama ...

'' (1999), which is his debut film.

Career

Kunal was born on 29 September 1976 in

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

, India. He was introduced in

's 1999 romantic Tamil film ''

'', alongside

Sonali Bendre Sonali Bendre Behl (born 1 January 1975), known professionally as Sonali Bendre, is an Indian actress predominantly known for her work in Hindi and Telugu films. Considered as one of the leading actresses of the 1990s and early 2000s, Bendre s ...

, a popular Bollywood actress that time. Kunal played a young student who falls in love with Bendre's character over the internet. Due to Bendre's popularity in north India, the film was partially reshot and dubbed into Hindi as ''Dil Hi Dil Mein''. After the relative success of ''Kadhalar Dhinam'', Kunal appeared in a series of successful Tamil films like '' Paarvai Ondre Pothume'' (2001) and ''

Punnagai Desam ''Punnagai Desam'' () is a 2002 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by K. Shajahan. The film was produced by R. B. Choudary under the production banner Super Good films. The film stars an ensemble cast of Tarun (T ...

'' (2002), the latter being his first multi-starrer film. After co-starring with Manoj K. Bharathi in ''

Varushamellam Vasantham ''Varushamellam Vasantham'' () is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Ravi Shankar in his debut, and produced by R. B. Choudary of Super Good Films. The film featured Manoj, Kunal and Anita Hassanandani (her Tamil de ...

'' (2002), Kunal then appeared in many flops like ''

Pesadha Kannum Pesume ''Pesadha Kannum Pesume'' () is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Murali Krishna. The film stars Kunal, Monal and new actress Mamtha in the lead roles, while Ramji and Karunas play supporting roles. The music was composed by Bha ...

'', '' Enge Enadhu Kavithai'' and '' Unarchigal''. 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 Kausalya (, ) is a queen of Kosala in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. She is the first senior queen consort of Dasharatha, who ruled Kosala from its capital Ayodhya. She is the mother of Rama, the male protagonist of the epic. She is a secondar ...

. 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. Kunal's last Tamil film was ''

Nanbanin Kadhali ''Nanbanin Kadhali'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by G. Kicha, starring Kunal, Vikramaditya and Shivani Singh in the lead roles. The film was shot and completed in 2005 under the title ''Cleopatra ...

'', which released in 2007.

Death

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

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

apartment. The apparent suicide was challenged by his father Rajendra Singh who claimed that the body showed signs of suspicious bruising. Actress Lavina 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 favour 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 Male actors in Hindi cinema Suicides by hanging in India Tamil actors 2008 suicides Artists who died by suicide