BENGALURU: Veteran actor R N Sudarshan (78), died at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Friday. He is survived by wife and actor Shylashree. The actor was suffering from age-related problems and was recently admitted to a private hospital after he slipped and fell in the bathroom at his residence in Bengaluru.
The couple had no children and weren’t financially stable. MLC and actress Jayamala, and Minister and actress Umashree helped settle hospital bill and have assured to provide necessary help from the film industry and government to Shylashree. Umashree also arranged to keep the actor’s body at Ravindra Kalakshetra for the public to pay their last respects.
Sudarshan made his acting debut at the age of 21. His first film Vijayanagarada Veeraputra was directed by his father R Nagendra Rao. The actor has worked in more than 250 films in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.
Sudarshan has played the lead role in over 60 films and was later seen playing the role of a villain. He eventually became a supporting artiste. Some of his popular films include Naguva Hoovu, Mareyada Deepavali, Maria My Darling in Kannada. Some of his recent films in which he played supporting role include Mata, Super and Charulatha. Some of his well-known Tamil films are Sandippu, Paayum Puli, Punnagai Mannan, Velaikaaran and Nayagan among others.
He made his small screen debut with tele-serial Maya Machindra and was currently working in the popular daily soap Agnisakshi. Sudarshan, who was also a good singer, had lent his voice to a few songs like Hoovondu Balibandhu Thakithu Ennedheya from the film Shubhamangala, Irabeku Irabeku from Naguva Hoovu among others.