'Excited' man dies of heart attack while watching 'Avatar 2'
After 13 long years of waiting, a sequel for the 2009 blockbuster hit Avatar has finally been released this December. Understandably, many fans are filled with frenzy for getting to see the stunning visual effects of James Cameron's latest work.
But one fan's excitement may have gone a little too far, resulting in his sudden death due to a heart attack while watching the film in theaters.
According to The Independent, a man in India, identified to be Lakshmireddy Srinu, had been watching Avatar: The Way of Water in a movie theater with his younger brother in southern Andhra Pradesh state when he suddenly collapsed in the middle of the movie.
It was too late when he was taken to the Peddapuram Government Hospital to be treated as doctors had declared him dead due to cardiac arrest.
Speaking with Hindustan Times, Pradeep Kumar D, a senior consultant for interventional cardiology at Aster CMI Hospital, said that the incident may have been caused by the man experiencing extreme excitement at that moment, which stirred his already high blood pressure.
"People with underlying heart problems can die suddenly due to extreme stress or excitement. This may be due to a plaque rupture in the coronaries or triggering of an arrhythmia due to the excitement," he said.
"These kinds of deaths do happen during exciting matches or emotional situations," he added.
Meanwhile, Sanjeev Gera, the director of Fortis Hospital in Noida, believed that the heart attack may have also been triggered by complications of COVID-19.
"After COVID, there is a continuing inflammation in our blood vessels. Because of stress, increase in blood pressure like what happened in this case, arteries of the heart could have ruptured and that can cause sudden cardiac arrest."
Avatar: The Way of Water is set decades after the original film, where it explores the troubles that follows the Sully family, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.