Kannada actor and politician K Shivaram died at 70 in Bengaluru on Thursday. Best known for his roles in Baa Nalle Madhuchandrake (1993) and Tiger (2017), K Shivaram was battling multiple health issues in a private hospital in the city for a few days. K Shivaram’s last rites will be held on Friday, March 1. (Also Read: Kannada cinema: How new-age filmmakers are reinventing an 100-year-old industry with culturally-rooted stories)

K Shivaram was born in a poor Dalit family, with theatre coach S. Kempaiah as his father. He made his acting debut with Nagathihalli Chandrashekar’s adaptation of his own novel, Baa Nalle Madhuchandrake. The romantic thriller became an unexpected hit, but K Shivaram couldn’t establish himself as an actor in Kannada cinema. His last, and only other, memorable role was of Shivram Nayak in Nanda Kishore’s action film Tiger, which starred his brother-in-law Pradeep in the lead role of Ashok Nayak. It also featured late veteran actor Om Puri in a key role.

Besides acting, K Shivaram is well-known for being the first person to clear the UPSC exam in Kannada, back in 1986, as claimed by The Hindu. After working as a civil servant for years upto his retirement in 2013, he then joined Indian National Congress, followed by Janata Dal (Secular), before settling for Bhartiya Janata Party, where he worked for seven years.

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