Noted Businessman, Chairman of Atlas group of companies and film producer, MM Ramachandran, popularly known as Atlas Ramachandran passed away on October 2, Sunday night following a cardiac arrest, at age 80. He was admitted at the Bur Dubai Aster Mankhool Hospital on Saturday night with chest pain.
Born in 1942, in Kerala’s Thrissur district, Ramachandran gained prominence and became a household name among Malayalis because of the way he delivered the tag line of his jewelry chain – Atlas Jewellery, janakodikalude vishwastha sthapanam (the trusted name of crores of people).
It was in 1981 that Ramachandran started his gold jewelry business. He purchased just two kilograms of gold with his own money and went on to managing a chain of jewellery across the globe. He also held the positions of Dubai Shopping Festival’s Gold Promotion Council, and the secretary of Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group.
Later he also started producing films and even directed a film - ‘Holidays’. The films he produced includes ‘Vaishali’, ‘Dhanam’, ‘Kauravar’, ‘Chakoram’, ‘Innale’ and ‘Sukrutham’, and also owns film producing company Chandrakantha films. Ramachandran also appeared in ‘Arabikatha’, ‘Subhadram’, ‘Anandabhairavi’, ‘Malabar Wedding’ and ‘2 Harihar Nagar’.
In August 2015, the banker turned businessman was arrested by the Dubai police for delay in repayment of bank borrowings. Two months later, he was sentenced to three years in prison by a Dubai court. The Atlas group had taken loans up to Dh 550 million (appr Rs. 1000 crore) and the sentence came in a case in which two cheques were not honoured by the company.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had condoled the death of Ramachandran and said that he was someone who was never reluctant to help the poor. “Atlas Ramachandran’s demise comes at a time when he was planning on returning home to his birthplace,” said Pinarayi.