State award winning director (Marali Gudige) K Shantharam has reached ‘Marali Mannige’. An actor in stage, cinema and director K Shantharam passed away today in Bengaluru. Hailing from Chikkaballapura, Shantharam was ill for quite some time. He leaves behind his wife Shaila.

Shantharam journey in art field commences from the support of their parents. After staging several plays, he left his job for cinema acting. His first film was ‘Kanneshwara Rama’ with versatile actor Ananthnag and Shabana Azmi. He has acted in more than 50 films. ‘Savathiya Neralu’ brought him good fame.

It was direction that brought new interest in him as he worked as an actor in big director films. He joined the camp of TS Ranga, MS Sathyu, K Balachander and others. Writing screenplay and dialogue was his forte.

Learning from various directors nuances of direction he directed his first film ‘Marali Gudige’ that got him Karnataka state best film award. Baala Nauke, Hrudaya Samrajya (producer also) and Karnana Sampathu are his other films. He had written dialogues for Hoovu Hannu and Maha Kshatriya top ranking Kannada films of SV Rajendra Singh Babu.

May his soul rest in peace!