Actor Sarath Babu passes away at 71

According to reports, Sarath Babu was first admitted to a private hospital in Bengaluru last month due to ill health and was shifted to Hyderabad after his condition deteriorated.

Born as Sathyam Babu Dixithulu in 1951, Sarath Babu kickstarted his career as an actor with the 1973 Telugu film Rama Rajyam. The actor’s ticket to stardom was K Balachander’s Pattina Pravesam (1977).

He soon started receiving several roles in both Tamil and Telugu and began acting alongside superstars like Kamal Haasan in Nizhal Nijamagiradhu (1978, Dir. K Balachander), Rajinikanth in Mullum Malarum (1978, Dir. J Mahendran), N T Rama Rao in Srungara Ramudu (1979, Dir. K Shankar), Jaishankar in Mudi Sooda Mannan (1978, Dir. R Vittal) and Chiranjeevi in Idi Katha Kaadu (1979, Dir. K Balachander).

Apart from Tamil and Telugu films, Sarath Babu also acted in Malayalam films such as Sarapancharam (1979, Dir. Hariharan), Dhanya (1981, Dir. Fazil), and Poonilamazha (1997, Dir. Sunil), and Kannada films such as Ranachandi (1991, Dir. G K Mudduraj), Amrutha Varshini (1997, Dir. Dinesh Baboo), Hrudaya Hrudaya (1999, Dir. M S Rajashekar), and Neela (2001, Dir. T S Nagabharana).

The septuagenarian also shared a close bond with Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, with whom he acted in films such as Annaamalai (1992, Dir. Suresh Krissna), Muthu (1995, Dir. K S Ravikumar), and Velaikkaran (1987, Dir. S P Muthuraman).

His colleagues from the film industry and fans from across the world condoled Sarath Babu’s demise and penned heartfelt notes on their social media accounts.

The actor’s last rites will be held in Chennai.