Mumbai : Actor and Politician Ambareesh passed away at private hospital due to cardiac arrest. The 66 year old actor was admitted at Vikram Hospital in Bengaluru.
As per reports former Union Minister Ambareesh was rushed to the hospital after he complained of breathing trouble, “Ambareesh was brought to hospital around 9 pm and he passed away because of cardiac arrest,” Vikram Hospital officials told PTI.
Ambareesh, a three-time Lok Sabha member and also a former State minister, is survived by actress Sumalatha and son Abhishek.
Ambareesh is popularly known as a “rebal star”, were he has acted in over 200 films also had a fan following of his own at the peak of his popularity.
Following his debut in Puttanna Kanagal’s National Award winning film Naagarahaavu (1972), his acting career commenced with a brief phase of portraying antagonistic and supporting characters in Kannada films.
He was an MLA with the Indian National Congress party, winning the assembly election of the Mandya constituency, by a margin of 42,937 votes. He served as Minister of Housing, Karnataka Government in the Cabinet of Cheif Minister Siddaramaiah from May 2013 to June 2016.
Ambareesh joined the Indian National Congress (INC) ahead of the assembly election in 1994. He campaigned for the party in the election after having been “too late to be given a ticket”. However, he was met with lukewarm reception from the public having been “greeted with slippers and rotten vegetables at a couple of public meetings.” He quit the party two years later after being denied a ticket to contest the 1996 general election.
Ambareesh subsequently joined the Janata Dal and contested the 1998 general election from Mandya. He won the seat upon polling 431,439 votes against 250,916 for the INC candidate.[
Ambareesh had not been keeping well in recent years and was hospitalised frequently. In 2014, he was shifted to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
Ambareesh also served has the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting from 2006-2007 under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but had quit the post over the issue of formation of the Cauvery water dispute tribunal.
He has won several state government film awards and was bestowed with the honorary doctorate by the Dharwad University.
A large number of fans and followers also descended at the hospital with some saying that they became “orphans” without their “Ambareesh Anna”.
Expressing shock over the demise, Kumaraswamy said Ambaresh’s death “an era of love and affection in Kannada fim industry has ended” he tweeted
https://twitter.com/CMofKarnataka/status/1066400291233382400
Ambareesh was a rebel who was loved by all. He carved a unique place in both politics and films. he added.
https://twitter.com/CMofKarnataka/status/1066400293804539904
Speaking to reporters after visiting the hospital, Kumaraswamy said, the state government has decided to observe a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect for Ambareesh whose funeral would be held with full state honour.
