He was 73 and was suffering from pancreatic cancer for the past several years. He had acted in 108 films, besides producing 15 films under his own banner ‘Bharani Chitra.’ He had won awards like Kannada Rajyotsava, Dr Rajkumar Award and many others.
On July 3 he was admitted at Bangalore Institute of Oncology and was discharged the next day. Shankar had been rendered speechless for the past three days. On Thursday morning, he was administered drips, according to his family members.
He leaves behind his wife Manjula, son Tilak, daughter Shobha, three grandchildren. The Last rites will be performed at Vidyaranyapuram on Friday (July 18).
An avid lover of wildlife, Shankar launched his own banner ‘Bharani Chitra’ and produced 15 films till date Of them his maiden production ‘Kaadina Rahasya’, ‘Mrugalaya’, ‘Rama Lakshmana’ and few others went on to become hits. One must mention ‘Gandhada Gudi’ starring Dr Rajkumar which apart from bringing huge success to Shankar as producer and Rajkumar as an actor, had forced the then Chief Minister D Devaraj Urs to declare few of the forests in the State as ‘Abhayaranya’ (Wildlife Sanctuaries). An actor par excellence, Shankar is remembered for his roles in ‘Bhoothaiahana Maga Ayyu’, ‘Satya Harishchandra,’etc
As an actor ‘Kallarali Hoovagi’ was Shankar’s last movie. Incidentally, Ambareesh who had also acted along with Shankar in Kallarali... was the first to visit Shankar’s residence after hearing the news. He termed Shankar’s demise as a loss of great personality. Actors Aswath, Ratnakar, Chetan Ramarao, Praveen Kripakar and many others paid their last respects.
Shankar had unsuccessfully contested Assembly Polls from Krishnaraja Assembly segment as a candidate of Karnataka Congress Party (KCP) founded then by S Bangarappa.
