Veteran filmmaker Bharathiraja was the owner of property worth crores, but the death of his young son broke his spine.

The great filmmaker P. Bharathiraja, who ruled the hearts of the audience throughout the ages and took Tamil cinema out of the four walls of the studio and connected it to the real soil of the villages, is no more with us. Bharathiraja, honored with Padma Shri and several National Film Awards, breathed his last in Chennai. As soon as the news of his demise came out, there was a wave of mourning throughout South Cinema and Bollywood. From Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan to all the big stars and Chief Ministers have expressed deep grief over his demise. He was called the ‘Everest’ of Tamil cinema (Iyakkunar Imayam), who started a new era of rural realism on screen with his films.

Net worth of crores and luxurious life, but even money could not buy happiness. If we talk about his wealth and success, Bharathiraja has earned a lot of name and money in his 5 decade long career. According to reports, his net worth was estimated at more than Rs 80 crore. He had luxurious properties and excellent infrastructure in a metropolis like Chennai. Along with directing films, he also acted in many memorable characters, due to which his earnings and reputation continued to increase. But history is witness to the fact that no one ever gets ahead of fate. Despite having immense wealth and property worth crores, he could not overcome the biggest pain and emptiness of his life, which completely ruined his cheerful world.

My heart was broken by the death of my young son, deep shock took my life. The most tragic and dark turn of Bharathiraja’s life came when in March 2025, his young son and actor-director Manoj Bharathiraja died suddenly due to cardiac arrest at the age of just 48. This untimely death had completely shaken the elderly father from within. Everyone’s eyes became moist after seeing his crying pictures during the funeral. According to his close relatives and brother Jayaraj, Bharathiraja never recovered mentally and physically after this incident. He would often cry looking at his son’s pictures. Due to this deep mental stress and shock, his health continued to deteriorate and finally due to serious respiratory problems, he said goodbye to the world forever.