In a shocking development, popular Tamil actor Bala Saravanan's father SA Ranganathan has passed away on Friday at the age of 60 in Madurai due to the COVID-19 viral infection. Several fans and cinema fraternities are paying tribute to the deceased soul and expressing condolences to the actor.

According to reports, Ranganathan was hospitalized in a private hospital in Madurai for the past few days where he was getting treated for the pandemic. His health had deteriorated on Friday and moments later, he had breathed his last at the age of 60. Ranganathan's demise has come a month after Bala Saravanan's brother-in-law's death.

His brother-in-law has also died due to COVID-19 complications at the age of 32. After losing his brother-in-law, the actor took to social media had urged the people to be safe amid testing times of pandemic. He further appealed to everyone to stay at home and follow the guidelines. 

Music director Justin Prabhakaran has paid his tribute to Bala Saravanan. Taking to Twitter, Prabhakar wrote, "Very sad to hear @Bala_actor. We believed everything will be alright. Don't know how to console you. My prayers to family. Deepest condolences." Several fans and followers of the actor have also expressed their condolences. 

On the work front, Bala Saravanan was last seen in Simbu-starred 'Eeswaran' that was released on January 14 this year. His another film 'Kalathil Santhippom', in which he shared the screen space with Jiiva and Arulnithi, was also released recently. The actor will next be seen in Veerakumar's action crime movie 'Chasing', which stars Varalaxmi Sarathkumar in the lead role. 

Bala Saravanan has made his debut as an actor in Vijay TV's school drama serial 'Kalli Kaatu Pallikoodam' and he rose to popularity through playing a role in Sasikumar starred 'Kuttipuli'. He also has played important roles in 'Thirudan Police', 'Darling', and Ajith starred 'Veeram'. With these roles, he had received positive critics, and being active since 2013, Saravanan has acted in nearly forty movies. 

Very sad to hear @Bala_actor we believed everything will be alright. don’t know how to console you. My prayers to family. Deepest condolences 💔 https://t.co/QrbeaYyFFT

— Justin Prabhakaran (@justin_tunes) June 11, 2021