Actor dies after heavy drinking

MELBOURNE: A 30-year-old Indian stage artiste, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a Sydney hotel, had choked on his own vomit after a heavy drinking session.

D Prakash, who was part of an acclaimed Indian production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was not allowed to board a plane to India two days before he was found dead on March 25 after Sydney airport staff suspected that he was “too intoxicated to fly, the Herald Sun reported. The actor from Tamil Nadu, returned to his hotel room where he continued to drink and later choked on his own vomit, official sources said.

Prakash was found dead at a hotel room three days after the Sydney season of the production ended, Yadu Vansh Dayal of Indian Consulate in Sydney said.

“This has shocked everyone....It is hard to understand how this all happened. He wasn’t a heavy drinker. Perhaps he was looking to unwind after a hectic schedule and it all went wrong,” fellow cast member Faezeh Jalali said.

Jalai said Prakash was “extremely popular” among the theatre group. He loved martial arts and was an extremely talented musician and actor. The British director Tim Supple’s multilingual production of the Shakespearean comedy was staged at the Sydney Theatre from March 11-22. Dayal said the body was sent back to Tamil Nadu.