Popular Tamil actor Murali, son of famous Kannada film director Siddalingaiah, died of a heart attack at a private hospital in Chennai on Wednesday.
The 46-year-old was one of the reigning stars of Tamil cinema from Karnataka with Arjun Sarja, Prakash Raj aka Prakash Rai and superstar Rajinikanth. He is survived by wife Shobha, two sons and a daughter.
The Tamil film industry expressed deep shock at Murali’s death and declared a holiday on Thursday, when his funeral would be held at the Besant Nagar crematorium.
“He was an ageless wonder. He was like a flower sculpted out of a stone. His unexpected demise is a great shock,” veteran actor Sivakumar told reporters at Murali’s Valasaravakkam residence. Murali complained of severe chest pain in the early hours and was rushed to Ramachandra hospital, where he died.
He had acted in over 100 films and won several awards. After acting in a few Kannada movies, he made his debut in the Tamil film industry in 1984 as ace director Balachander’s find.
Incidentally, Balachander had also introduced Rajnikanth to Tamil cinema. Murali shot to prominence with the roaring success of Puthu Vasantham (New Dawn) and had the distinction of co-starring with bigwigs such as Sivaji Ganesan, Vijayakanth, Sathyaraj, Prabhu, Sarath Kumar, Mammootty and Prabhu Deva.
He briefly dabbled in politics when he campaigned for J Jayalalithaa’s All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam during the 2006 assembly election.
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