Indian movie and television star Vaishnavi has committed suicide, apparently because she could not cope with the stress of studying while pursuing her acting career, police said Tuesday.
Vaishnavi, who uses one name, appeared to have hanged herself from a ceiling fan in her home in the southern city of Chennai late Monday, police said.
"The starlet appears to have taken the extreme step due to mental stress as she had to simultaneously attend to her education and pursue her career on the screen," said a police spokesman, quoting preliminary enquiry reports.
The actress, 20, began her career in 1991 as a child star in the Tamil regional language film "Dharma Dorai".
Vaishnavi, who also hosted a comedy show on a private television network, was playing a role in an uncompleted Bollywood film at the time of her death.