Veteran Kannada actor Kalatapasvi Rajesh, who acted in more than 150 movies and won several awards throughout his career, has passed away at the age of 89 in Bengaluru today, February 19, reported news agency ANI. Kalatapasvi was reportedly admitted to a private hospital on February 9 in Bengaluru. He was on a ventilator in the hospital due to some respiratory and age-related ailments. However, later the actor’s health deteriorated and he died in the wee hours of Saturday.
Reports suggest that the final rites of Kalatapasvi Rajesh will be arranged in Bengaluru at his Vidyaranyapura residence at 6 pm today.
Kalatapasvi Rajesh was born as Muni Chowdappa on April 15, 1932, in Bengaluru. Having developed a taste for acting in his childhood, he actively took part in theatre and performed on various occasions in his school and college days. Kalatapasvi Rajesh also came to be known as Vidyasagar during his theatre days.
Reportedly, he joined the Sudarshana Nataka Mandali without telling his parents. Later in 1960, he made his debut with Veera Sankalpa and then acted in numerous movies, impressing fans with his versatile acting skills.
Before stepping into the film industry, Rajesh even worked as a typist at a government office and side by side polished his acting skills through theatre. Notably, the actor adopted the name Rajesh in 1968 following the release of his movie Namma Ooru, which had turned out to be superhit in the 60s. After giving several more hits, Rajesh rose to fame and came to be known as Kalatapasvi Rajesh in the Kannada film industry.
Kalatapasvi Rajesh’s daughter Asha Rani or Nivedhitha Arjun is also a film star who acted in several Kannada and Telugu language films. Asha has been married to prominent Tamil and Kannada actor Arjun Sarja. Arjun too has acted and directed numerous films and is hailed as the ‘Action King’ of Kollywood.
