Happy Birthday Ambareesh: Why the Kannada film industry misses the Rebel Star

Ambareesh is one of the most loved actors in the Kannada film industry. His contribution to the Kannada film industry and Karnataka politics is immeasurable. The actor was born on May 29, 1952 and passed away on November 24, 2018 in Bangalore. Today, as fans celebrate the Rebel Star’s 67^th birth anniversary, let's take a look at Ambareesh’s journey through life and why Sandalwood misses their Rebel Star.

Rebel was born as Malavalli Huchche Gowda Amarnath in 1952 to Huche Gowda and Padmamma and became famous as Ambareesh in the Kannada film industry. Ambareesh, who made his debut into Kannada cinema with his negative shade in the movie 'Nagarahavu', gained huge popularity. He has also worked with great Kannada stars like Vishnuvardhan and Dr Rajkumar. Fans across Karnataka affectionately call him as 'Mandyada Gandu'.

Ambareesh who made his debut with ‘Nagarahavu’ under the direction of Puttanna Kanagal became a huge star in Sandalwood. Even though he started his career with a negative role, he was well-recognised in the industry. Later, he acted in many multi-starrers along with Vishnuvardhan and Dr Rajkumar and also acted in many successful standalone movies. Antha, Onti Salaga, Mrugaalaya, Rowdy & MLA, Diggajaru, Avala Hejje, Operation Antha are some of his famous films.

On December 8, 1991, Ambareesh and Sumalatha entered their married life after falling in love. The couple also celebrated their 25^th marriage anniversary three years ago. In 1993, Ambareesh and Sumalatha gave birth to Abhishek Gowda, who also made his debut in Sandalwood last year.

Ambareesh entered politics in 1994 and was a three-time Lok Sabha member. He also worked as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Karnataka Government in the Ministry of Housing and also resigned from the position of MP during the Cauvery River controversy. Ambareesh has also been honoured with a doctorate by the Karnataka University.

Ambareesh was known for his friendship with stars across the South Indian film industries and Bollywood. The union which was formed long back for the actors belonging to the 80’s, called the ‘Class of the '80s’, had a reunion in 2017 which was hosted by Ambareesh. Recently, the reunion was held in Megastar Chiranjeevi’s house and Ambareesh was sorely missed at the event. He was good friends with veterans like Rajinikanth, Mohanlal, Suhasini Maniratnam, Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh Daggubati, R. Sarathkumar, Raadhika, Jayaram, Naresh, Arjun Sarja, Ramesh Aravind and others. He was a great friend of Dr Vishnuvardhan in the Kannada film industry.