Seasoned senior Kannada actor 'Kala Thapasvi' Rajesh passed away at a private hospital here during the early hours of Saturday. He was 89. The actor was hospitalised a week ago for old-age ailments.
He breathed his last at 2.30 am. The mortal remains will be kept at his Vidyaranyapura residence to pay homage till evening. Last rites will be conducted this evening.
Leading film personalities and political leaders condoled the demise of the actor.
'Kala Thapasvi' Rajesh was born on April 15, 1932, and was named Munichowdappa.
As he was attracted to the theatre since his childhood, he would bunk tuition classes and act in plays staged by Sudarshan Nataka Mandali. He was deeply influenced by Thyagaraj Bhagawatar films and considered him as his model. He changed his name to Vidyasagar only to promote himself in theatre.
He worked as a typist after his education and founded his own drama troupe 'Shakti Nataka Mandali'. Impressed by his performance, filmmaker Hunsur Krishnamurthy offered him a role in his film 'Veera Sankalpa' which formally announced his journey on the silver screen in 1964.
A few years later, filmmaker C V Shivashankar chose him for a lead role for his 'Namma Uru'. Krishna Kumari, who was to act against him, expressed disappointment for dropping Ramesh Nayak for the lead role and choosing Rajesh, but Shivashankar ignored her saying that it wouldn't matter if it was Ramesh or Rajesh. That incident inspired him to rename himself Rajesh.
In his career spanning over 45 years, he acted in over 150 films. His autobiography 'Kala Thapasvi Rajesh Atmakathe' came out in 2014.
Karnatak University, Dharwad, honoured him in 2012 offering an honorary doctorate degree for his contributions in the field of culture. His daughter Asha Rani is the wife of multilingual South Indian actor Arjun Sarja.
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