The 80 year old veteran actor Rathnakar died on Tuesday morning in Mysore’s Mission Hospital. He was suffering from a kidney failure.
Shivaraj Kumar, Darshan and Doddanna visited his residence in Mysore and paid their respects. Rathnakar was a multifaceted personality of the Kannada film industry having acted in more than 300 Kannada films. He plays a comedian in the yet to be released film Gaana Bajaana. He was also part of Dr. Vishnuvardhan’s Aaptha Rakshaka which celebrated its silver jubilee recently.
Rathnakar was called on stage for receiving the memento, but none of those people behind the silver jubilee celebrations knew that he was admitted on the same day at Mysore’s Mission Hospital.
Rathnakar had even directed three Kannada films with legendary actors like Dr. Raj Kumar (Bhagya Devathe), Dr. Vishnuvardhan (Shani Prabhava) and K.S.Aswath (Bhandavya). He has received many prestigious awards including Karnataka Rajyothsava Award and Arya Bhata award. He had even composed music and written lyrics for many musical albums.
Rathnakar had acted in many memorable roles in Kanya Rathna, Guru Shishyaru, Nanda Deepa, Veera Kesari, Katari Veera andKanakadaasa. After working in a theatre group Rathnakar was drafted to films through VichithraPremi. Later he became one of the most popular comedians in the Kannada film industry.