Kannada

Veteran Kannada actor Loknath dies in hospital

From our online archive

BENGALURU: Kannada actor Loknath, who made his debut in national award winning movie Samskara in 1970, died in hospital a little past midnight on Monday at the age of 89. He is survived by four daughters and a son.

The veteran actor, who worked in the industry for close to six decades, has the distinction of having acted with most of the big names in the South Indian film industry, including Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh, Kamal Haasan, Shankar Nag, Ravichandran and others. 

He has also featured in several episodes of Malgudi Days. People remember him fondly as ‘Uncle Loknath’ or ‘Uppinkayi’ (pickle) for his memorable scene in Bootayyana Maga Ayyu in which he drools over pickle.

Although Samskara was his first movie, it was released in 1970. His second movie Gejje Pooje was released a year earlier in 1969. His mortal remains will be kept at Ravindra Kalakshetra for public viewing till 2.30 PM on Monday.

Born on August 8, 1929, he was among the film personalities who witnessed India's independence struggle.

Loknath came from a theatre background and has been part of more than 1000 plays. He was famous for characters like Galileo in Galileo, Rajaram in Aspota, Dr Faustus in the play Dr Faustus among many others. He has worked in more than 650 films including Bootayyana Maga Ayoo, Collegu Ranga, Naagarahaavu, Katha Sangama, Hosa Neeru, Singapurinalli Raja Kulla and Minchina Ota. His last film was Bheema Theeradalli.

SCROLL FOR NEXT