Actor and comedian M.S. Narayana, a veteran with over 750 films to his credit, passed away at a corporate hospital here on Friday morning. He was 63. He is survived by daughter Sasikiran and son Vikram.
Doctors cited multi-organ failure as the cause of death. He was initially diagnosed with malaria at a hospital in Bhimavaram and brought to a corporate hospital here about four days ago. He then complained of chest pain and was put on ventilator for the last two days. When his kidneys did not function properly he was given dialysis too. He was declared dead at 9.40 a.m. on Friday.
Born in Nidamarru near Bhimavaram in West Godavari District on April 16, 1951, Mylavarapu Surya Narayana dabbled in theatre while working as a lecturer and entered the film industry as a writer before being introduced as an actor.
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Among his latest films is ‘Manam’ (2014) in which three generations of the Akkineni family acted and the last in which thespian, late Akkineni Nageswara Rao acted. Other prominent films include ‘Badshah’ with NTR in 2013, ‘Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu’ with Pawan Kalyan and ‘Julayi’ with Allu Arjun in 2012 and Mahesh Babu's runaway success ‘Dookudu’ in 2011, in which he appeared as Bokka Venkateswara Rao.
He won Nandi awards of the AP Government as the best male comedian for the films ‘Maa Nanna ki Pelli,’ ‘Ramsakkanodu,’ ‘Sardukupodam Randi,’ ‘Sivamani’ and ‘Dookudu.’ He made his debut as a director in the film Koduku starring his son Vikram and directed another film ‘Bhajantrilu’.
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Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao (Telangana) and N. Chandrababu Naidu (AP) condoled the death of Narayana, saying the film industry has lost a good actor, as did YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan, apart from actor-MP K. Chiranjeevi, actor Pawan Kalyan and several others.
There was a steady stream of visitors to the AP Film Chamber of Commerce where the body was kept to enable people to pay their last respects. Comedians, including Vennela Kishore, Srinivas Reddy and others, could not hold back their tears. The late comedian virtually lived the role of an alcoholic in several films that he was asked several times if he really came ‘drunk’ to shootings.
Comedians Ali and Babu Mohan shared their memories with Narayana on Youtube, while ‘Gabbar Singh’’ director Harish Shankar regretted that he never got to direct a great writer and comedian.” Popular comedian Brahmanandam visited Narayana while he was in hospital on Thursday itself.
“Narayana was one of the few who could carry off an entire film single-handedly, with the comedy track and be a pillar for its success,” said Mamidi Harikrishna, Director of Culture (Telangana), also an avid film buff and critic.