Chennai: Tamil actor and comedian Vivek, 59, passed away early on Saturday following a cardiac arrest.

Vivek was admitted to the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Chennai on Friday morning after he suffered a heart attack.

According to a health bulletin, Vivek had a 100 percent block in the artery which caused a massive cardiac arrest.  Vivek had taken the Covid vaccine on Thursday.

Vivek was admtted to SIMS hopsital in Vadapalani where he underwent a angioplasty on Friday. He was on ECMO support at the ICU.

Vivek had acted in over 200 films like Swami, Sivaji and Anniyan and was active in the film fraternity during the 80s. He began his film career along with K Balachander as assistant director and was also a scriptwriter. He had added comedy touch to many superhit Tamil films.

He bagged the Filmfare award four times for his comedian role and state award of the TN government thrice.

Vivekh, a Padma Shree recipient in 2009, has acted with top Tamil heroes, including Rajinikanth, Vijay and Ajith Kumar. He has also appeared as the lead artiste in a couple of movies and has been involved in social causes, including afforestation.