Actor Rajesh passes away week before release of his movie

NT Correspondent

Veteran Sandalwood actor Rajesh passed away on Saturday at a private hospital in Bengaluru. Rajesh was 89 years old and lived in the city. He was admitted to a private hospital on February 9 after he complained of breathing problems. He was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and put on a ventilator, but failed to respond to the treatment.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, former CM Siddaramaiah and several Sandalwood celebrities expressed their condolences over the demise of the veteran actor.

Rajesh was his stage name. His original name was Vidyasagar. Rajesh was born on April 15, 1935 in Bengaluru. In the early stages, Rajesh worked as a typist in government offices and his passion for acting started at a tender age. He formed a theatre troupe called Shakti Nataka Mandali. Nirudyogiya Balu, Badavana Baalu, Visha Sarpa, Nanda Deepa, Chandrodaya and Kittur Rani Chennama were popular plays of the troupe.

Rajesh successfully made his debut in the movie Veera Sankalpa. After this film, roles started to pour in for Rajesh, who went on to work in several Kannada films. In his long career, Rajesh has been a part of over 150 films. He gradually shifted to character roles with advancing age. He has also acted in TV shows. Some of his popular films include Sri Ramanjaneya Yuddha and Gange Gowri. Namma Ooru in 1968 shot him into prominence. Since then, he was known as Rajesh. This movie, which had even impressed then finance minister of Karnataka Ramakrishna Hegde, had got a 100 per cent tax exemption.

‘Kalathapasvi Rajesh Athmakathe’ was his biography, which was published in the year 2014.

He was bestowed the Dr Rajkumar Cultural Endowment Award by Kannada Sahitya Parishat in 2014. In 2012, Karnatak University, Dharwad, honoured him with an honorary doctorate degree for his contribution to the field of culture.

His daughter Asha Rani is the wife of multilingual South Indian actor Arjun Sarja. His upcoming movie titled Old Monk starring MR Srinivas is slated for release next week.