Film producer-director Ashok Kumar commits suicide after being harassed by financier

Film producer-director B Ashok Kumar allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Chennai's Alwarthirunagar on Tuesday. He was allegedly being harassed and threatened by a financier with whom he was associated for more than 7 years.

As per reports, the body has been sent to Government Royapettah Hospital for postmortem. As of now, a case of abetment of suicide has been charged against the financier.

Film analyst, Sreedhar Pillai had to say this – The sad death of #Ashok illustrates the plight of Tamil film Producers caught in the web of film financiers who charge “blade” interest rates. Unless institutional finance (banks) is provided, there is no escape from the clutches of this mafia.

Yes I know the banks are keeping away after they had to write off certain loans taken against film production. But Bollywood is making films with bank financing without much financial issues. They are also charging reasonable interests. https://t.co/TdVCdAV2cy

— Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) November 22, 2017

#Vishal voices his concern on the sad demise of Producer #Ashok, who succumbed to the pressures of his mafia like financier. pic.twitter.com/dC6RdUVX1b

— Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) November 22, 2017