Kochi: The funeral of actor and mimicry artist Kalabhavan Navas was held on Saturday evening after a public viewing at the Aluva Juma Masjid. The post-mortem was conducted at Kalamassery Medical College in the morning. The body was then taken shortly to his residence in Aluva.

Navas was found unconscious in a hotel room in Chottanikkara late on Friday night and was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital. A preliminary medical assessment suggests cardiac arrest as the cause of death.

The actor had been staying at a lodge in Chottanikkara since July 25 for a film shoot. After wrapping up the shoot around 5.30 pm on Friday, Navas, who was on a two-day break, had told colleagues he might visit home. He returned to his room shortly afterwards.

The film crew had taken three rooms, two of which had already checked out. Navas was in Room 209. When he failed to check out on time, co-workers contacted the hotel staff, who sent a room boy to check. “The door wasn’t locked, but there was no response. When it was opened, Navas was found lying unconscious on the floor. We informed the production controller and took him to the hospital immediately,” hotel owner Santhosh said.

According to Santhosh, Navas showed signs of life while being taken to the hospital. “His hands were moving when we took him,” he said. “I don’t know what happened after that.” The body was later shifted to the Ernakulam Government Medical College mortuary.

Kalabhavan Navas began his career on mimicry stages and made his film debut in 1995 with Chaitanyam. He went on to appear in several popular films, including Mimics Action 500, Hitler Brothers, Junior Mandrake, Mattupetti Machan, Chandamama and Thillana Thillana. His last film was Detective Ujjwalan. Recently, he played the lead alongside his wife, Rehna, in the film Izha.