HYDERABAD: The suicide of popular actor Ranganath came as a shocker for everyone in the film industry as the actor was always found cheerful and enthusiastic. A boy next door revealed to Express that Ranganath has been a tennis enthusiast and an ameteur player for the last 53 years. When seen last, the boy added, he was keenly following some TV programme in the morning.
According to Chiranjeevi, Ranganath’s grandson, the veteran artiste was quite depressed in life after his wife Chaitanya’s demise in 2009. “He was very much depressed after grandmom’s death in 2009. Though he was healthy and fine, he always used to be withdrawn after her death,” said Chiranjeevi. Ranganth is survived by two daughters and a son. Before entering into movies, Ranganath worked as ticket collector in Railways for a brief period.
A Multi-faceted Talent
Born in Chennai in 1949, Ranganath made his debut in the year 1969 in the movie ‘Buddhimanthudu’. Since then he steadily rose in his career and became a hero in 1974 with ‘Chandana’ movie. In a career spanning more than four and half decades Ranganath has acted in more than 300 movies and has endeared himself to Telugu audience. His popular movies like ‘Intinti Ramayanam,’ ‘Pantulamma,’ ‘Ee Charitra ae siratho..’, ‘Jamindarugari Ammayi,’ ‘Andame Anandam,’ ‘Gruhapravesam,’ ‘America Ammayi,’ ‘Veta,’ ‘Vijetha’ ‘Kodama Simham,’ ‘Premante Idera’ etc will remain as evergreen movies in the minds of Telugu audience.
Widely respected in Tollywood for his versatility, the actor has donned villain as well as lead roles, apart from impressing all as a character artiste. Besides movies, Ranganath has also acted in numerous serials and TV shows and won the hearts of small screen audience. He was also a writer, poet and directed a movie ‘Moguds Pellams’ in 2005. He stressed on the importance of optimism in life in his short stories and poems.
MAA Expresses Shock
Sivaji Raja, senior actor and secretary of Movie Artists Association (MAA) expressed grief over Ranganath’s death. According to him, Ranganath was tall and handsome and had good voice and acting abilities. “In very few actors will we find all these attributes together. His services to the industry were immense and his death will be a loss.”