Director dies while narrating film story to Bhoomika

Noted Telugu film industry director Shoban died of a heart attack while narrating a film story to Bhoomika! The 38-year-old actor-turned director had gone to the residence of Telugu heroine Bhoomika Chawla in Madhapur on Monday evening to talk about an upcoming project.

However, while narrating the story of the film, Shoban complained of chest pain and collapsed. Bhoomika and her husband, Bharath Thakur, immediately rushed him to the Image Hospital in Madhapur. But doctors could not save his life.

Shoban was a protege of well known filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma. He had learned his trade under the ace director and also acted in one of his super hits films, Kshana Kshanam. As an actor, he is remembered for the comedy roles in Telugu films such as Shankardada Zindabad and Oka Raja, Oka Rani. He is the brother of comedy actor and television anchor, Lakshmipathy.

The first film Shoban directed was the Mahesh Babu starrer, Bobby. He later went on to direct Ravi Teja in Chanti and then came up with the runaway hit, Varsham, featuring Prabhas in the lead role. He had started work on a Kannada film a few days ago.

Shocked with the sudden incident, Bhoomika said, "I never expect this sad collapse of Shoban and I'm still not recovering from that shock of death of the director. My husband tried a lot to save him. But we can't"