BANGALORE: Actor Murali died on Wednesday in Chennai due to cardiac arrest.
Murali (46) is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
Son of a well-known director, Siddalingaiah, he started his career as an assistant to his father in Kannada films.
He debuted as hero with ‘Prema Parva’ which became a box-office hit.
He also acted in ‘Ajay Vijay’ and ‘Sambhavaami Yuge Yuge’.
In 1984, he debuted in Tamil films with ‘Poovilangu’.
He won the best actor award from the Tamil Nadu government for his performance in ‘Kadal Pookal’ in 2001. Murali acted in around 60 Tamil films, among which ‘Anandam’ and ‘Samuthiram’, are considered the best.
He played a cameo role in ‘Bana Kaathaadi’ in which his son, Atharva, played the lead role.
At the release of ‘Bana Kaathaadi’ (a Tamil film) in Bangalore, Murali had expressed his willingness to direct a Kannada film. He also wanted his son Atharva to act in that film.
CM Yeddyurappa and The Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy have condoled the death of Murali.
The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce is organising a condolence meeting on Thursday.