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| Edited By: |Source: |Updated: Dec 31, 2009, 08:13 AM IST
Bangalore stopped, saluted and cried, overwhelmed by emotion after popular Kannada matinee idol Vishnuvardhan died on Wednesday in Mysore, sending waves of shock and grief across the state.
Despite appeals from Vishnuvardhan’s wife Bharathi to ensure a peaceful funeral for her husband, miscreants exploited the opportunity by stoning shopping arcades, buses and attacking the police leading to injuries sustained by a deputy commissioner of police and even stoning the vehicle of police commissioner Shankar M Bidari.
Vishnuvardhan, who was staying at hotel Metropole in Mysore, complained of chest pain at around 2.30am.
Wife Bharathi immediately called the family physician Dr Bharath and Vishnu was immediately rushed to a private hospital. However, he died on the way at about 2.45am.
The body was brought to the actor’s Jayanagar residence in Bangalore at 5.30am. As the news of Sahasa Simha’s death spread, Vishnuvardhan’s shocked friends in the film industry and fans poured into his residence to pay their last respects.
Close friends Ambareesh and Srinath were among the first to arrive at his residence. Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, too, rushed to Vishnuvardhan’s residence to pay homage to the actor who acted in 197 films in five different languages.
