Legendary Kannada actor and former Congress MLA from Mandya, Ambareesh breathed his last on Saturday night at Bengaluru’s Vikram Hospital, where he was admitted for multiple ailments and was being treated at the intensive care unit. He was 66, and died of a cardiac arrest. He served as a Union Minister of State in the UPA government, led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
His body will be kept at the Kanteerava stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday for people to pay their last respects. The funeral will be held on Monday in Bengaluru, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy announced.
Ambareesh has been an MP on three occasions from 1998-99, 1999-2004 and 2004-2009. He was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, from 2006 to 2008. He entered politics in the year 1995.
Ambareesh was the recipient of the national award for his debut film Naagarahaavu in 1972 and earned the nickname of 'Rebel star' over the years especially after the movie Chakravyuha.
Ambareesh had acted in over 200 movies in a career spanning five decades. He burst on to the scene in the Kannada film industry after he was cast in the 1972 film Nagarahaavu alongside another debutant Vishnuvardh. Nagarahaavu was the first Kannada film to run for 100 days in the theatres. Ambareesh enjoyed a close friendship with Vishnuvardhan. The duo remained friends throughout their careers and worked in several films together.
He was also known for playing the angry young man on screen, earning him the name 'Mandyada Gandu'. The political satire Antha (1981) which he acted in also became one of the few films of the time to depict the corrupt practices of politicians and policemen.
Not just the Kannada film industry and political circles, people from across the country have expressed their grief and shock over Ambareesh's death
The CM, as well as Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar, reached the Vikram Hospital shortly after his death.