Veteran Non-resident Indian businessman and film producer Atlas Ramachandran died on Sunday at the age of 80 in Dubai.
Ramachandran died in the late hours of Sunday at Dubai’s Aster Hospital due to a heart attack after battling age-related illnesses.
Ramachandran is the founder of the now-defunct Atlas Jewellery, had been a long-time expat in the UAE. Ramachandran became a household name in Kerala for delivering the tagline of his jewellery, “Janakodikalude Vishwastha Sthapanam.”
Besides being a producer, he has acted in 13 movies and directed one.
He is survived by wife Indira Ramachandran and daughter Dr Manju Ramachandran.
Ramachandran who was arrested by the Dubai Police in August 2015, after some banks, which had lent him huge sums, filed cases against him for his failure to repay the amount, released in 2018 after a 3 year imprisonment. He had said that he was targeted by his rivals.
Ramachandran was elected to serve as the first Chairman of the Gold Promotion Committee of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) and was instrumental in crafting the concept of a gold-based shopping incentive.
Both in his adopted home in the Gulf and in India, his community initiatives included welfare, education, film, literature and music.
