Happy Birthday Ambareesh: A look at the Rebel Star’s bond with Rajinikanth, Shatrughan Sinha and other actors from different film industries

Rebel Star Ambareesh was an actor and politician who excelled in both the fields. He was well appreciated and awarded for his movies as well as political work, and he was honoured with a doctorate from Dharwad University. Besides his movies and politics, he was known to have great relations with people around him. He had friends across cultures in different film industries as well. From Tamil film industry’s Rajinikanth to Bollywood’s Shatrughan Sinha, here’s a look at Ambareesh’s friends from other film industries.

Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh were known to be best friends in the Kannada film industry. They both started their acting careers from the movie ‘Nagarahavu’, where Vishnuvardhan played the role of the hero and Ambareesh was the villain. However, they turned out to be great friends by the end of the shooting and they stayed that way until Ambareesh’s demise. They have acted in movies like ‘Sneha Sedu’, ‘Muyyige Muyyi’, ‘Nagakanya’, ‘Onde Roopa Eradu Guna’ and many others. In 2001, they acted in the movie ‘Diggajaru’ which was based on friendship, and also became a hit.

Ambareesh and Rajinikanth were known to be best friends, who supported each other in their industries even though they have acted together only once in the movie ‘Priya’. Even after Rajinikanth became a superstar in Kollywood, they both had good bonding, and Rajini often visited Ambareesh’s house to spend time together. Rajnikanth who attended Ambareesh's funeral, had later reminisced in an interview about the time when he used to have lunch at Ambareesh’s home every time he visited Bangalore.

Ambareesh and Telugu star Mohan Babu were also good friends across different industries. The main reason for them to become friends was because of their similar personalities. Both were straight forward, aggressive, someone who couldn’t bear injustice and corruption and helpful to the people. Both the friends stood with each other in their happy and not so happy times. Even when Ambareesh had to be hospitalised after he complained of breathlessness, Mohan Babu visited him at the hospital. During the funeral of Ambareesh, he stayed back in Bangalore till the end of all rituals and was known to have been very emotional after losing him. This shows the true friendship between the two stars.

Ambareesh and Shatrughan Sinha were also known as Yekalavya and Dronacharya, who became friends. Ambareesh looked up to Shatrughan Sinha and was inspired by his acting. Shatrughan always wanted Ambareesh to quit smoking. The Bollywood actor always visited Ambareesh’s house and spent a lot of time in Bangalore with his friend.

Ambareesh and Chiranjeevi were one of the greatest friends across industries. They both acted together in the movie ‘Sri Manjunatha’ in 2001. Ambareesh and Chiranjeevi entered the film industry at the same time and struggled and built their respective careers. The similar struggle made them become good friends. Chiranjeevi too was very upset when Ambareesh passed away.