Actor-turned-politician M H Ambareesh (66), fondly known as 'Mandyada Gandu' and ‘rebel star’ died of cardiac arrest in the city on Saturday. The actor’s death came barely hours after he had expressed his grief at the death of 30 people in a bus accident earlier in the day in Mandya district. He is survived by his wife, actress Sumalatha and son Abhishek.
Ambareesh was rushed to Vikram Hospital after he complained of breathlessness in the evening. The hospital statement read, "Sri Ambareesh (M H Amarnath) aged 66 years was found unresponsive at his residence, resuscitation efforts were initiated at his residence and continued en route and shifted to the hospital. Despite all aggressive resuscitation effort, he could not be revived and is declared deceased at 10.15pm on 24.11.2018." The state government has announced a 3-day mourning.
After the family announced the demise of the legendary actor, a large group of his fans gathered outside the hospital. His Friends, fans and colleagues from the film fraternity expressed grief over the loss of the 'Rebel' actor.
Superstar Rajinikanth was a close companion of the late actor. He took to his social media handle to express his sadness. Apart from the '2.0' actor, many well-known Kannada stars and politicians have paid their last respect to Ambareesh.
The duo has acted together in several Tamil and Kannada movies - Priya (Tamil), Thai Meethu Sathiyam (Tamil), Killadi Kittu (Kannada) to name a few.