Veteran Kannada actor Umesh passes away

Umesh (right) with another well-known comedian Dwarakish.
| Photo Credit:
file photo

Actor Umesh.
| Photo Credit:
file photo

Veteran actor M.S. Umesh, 80, known for his comic roles in Kannada films, passed away on Sunday morning (November 30) here. He was suffering from cancer for sometime now.

He is survived by his wife and daughter. Umesh had recently fallen at his house and was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with cancer and was under treatment since then.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said despite the State government ensuring free treatment to the actor, he sadly did not respond to it and passed away. He said Umesh’s wife was also ill and wished her a speedy recovery.

The couple had earlier faced a tragedy when they lost their son, Chandrashekar, an aspiring actor, in a rail accident.

Child actor

Born in Mysuru in 1945, Umesh made his stage appearance as a child actor in Hirannaiah Mitra Mandali and Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company.

He was spotted by the renowned director Puttanna Kanagal who recommended him to well-known filmmaker, B.R. Pantulu, who cast him as the lead in his children’s film Makkala Rajya in 1960, when he was 15 years old, marking his debut in films. Though the film was successful, Umesh did not find new roles and went back to theatre.

He made a comeback in the Puttanna Kanagal film Katha Sangama, which also had Arathi and Rajinikanth, in 1977 and never looked back. He won the State award for the best supporting actor for his role in the film.

Umesh, who is estimated to have acted in over 900 films in a career spanning over six decades, came to be known for his comic timing, dialogue delivery and peculiar facial expressions, that elicited laughter.

Umesh’s brother M.S. Sathya, also an actor and known for his comic roles, predeceased him.

Umesh’s roles as Sitapati in Golmaal Radhakrishna, Dr. Rajkumar’s sidekick in Shruthi Seridaga, and in Venkata inSankata, where he played an old widow are remembered to this day.

Union Minister H.D. Kumarswamy, a film producer himself, said Umesh was an actor who made the audience float in a sea of laughter with his comic timing. “He was definitely an actor who enriched Kannada cinema,” the Union Minister said.