Kannada film director SK Bhagavan passed away on the morning of February 20 in Bengaluru. He was 89 years old and is said to have passed away due to age related ailments. In an emotional tweet, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said, “I am deeply saddened to hear about the death of SK Bhagavan, renowned director of Kannada film industry. I pray that God gives his family the strength to bear this pain.”
He further added, “The Dorai-Bhagwan duo has given many great films to Kannada cinema. Dr and his friend Dorai Raj have produced films like ‘Kasturi Niwas’, ‘Eradu Soyam’, ‘Bayalu Dari’, ‘Giri Kanye’, ‘Hosa Lekuk’ ‘ Directed 55 films including. ‘ Starring Rajkumar. Om Shantih.
Born on July 5, 1933, Bhagwan started performing in theater plays at an early age with the Hiranyah Mithra troupe. In 1956, he started working in the film industry as an assistant to Kanagal Prabhakar Shastri. Soon, he was enlisted as co-director of ‘Rajadurgada Rahasya’ (1967) with AC Narasimha Murthy. He made his professional directorial debut when he co-directed ‘Jedara Bale’ (1968) with Dorai Raj under the moniker Dorai-Bhagwan. He was the first Kannada filmmaker to make James Bond style films.
(With ANI inputs)