Debutant director Joseph Manu James died last week ahead of the release of his first movie  Nancy Rani at a hospital in  Aluva in Kerala's Ernakulam district.

He was 31.

According to the doctors, he was admitted to the hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia and died of hepatitis, reports Times Now.

He was laid to rest at the Major Archiepiscopal Marth Mariam Archdeacon Church, Kuravilangad on Sunday.