6 gems that Tollywood lost in the recent times

For the past few months, the Telugu film industry has seen a shadow of sadness, due to the deaths of several prominent personalities. 2022 was a difficult year for the film industry, with many beloved celebrities passing away. Unfortunately, 2023 saw the passing of several prominent figures in the film industry and that has a significant impact on the world. These individuals were all influential in their roles, and their passing has been a great loss to the world. Here is a list of celebrities who passed away in the recent times in Tollywood.

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Veteran playback singer Vani Jairam has sung over 10,000 songs in various languages, passed away on February 4. She was 78 years old. A popular entertainment outlet reported that the singer was found dead at her residence in Nungambakkam, Chennai. In his five-decade-long career, the singer, born in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore, worked with the biggest names in the music industry, such as AR Rahman, KV Mahadevan, Ilaiyaraaja, K. Bhagyaraj, JV Raghavulu and MS Viswanathan, among others. Vani Jairam is known for songs like "Pranati Pranati", "Oka Brundavanam", "Andela Ravamidhi", "Sri Suryanarayana", "Minneti Sooridu Vachenamma" among others.

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Legendary Telugu filmmaker K Viswanath, who also acted in some films, has passed away on February 2. He was 92. Viswanath breathed his last at a hospital in Hyderabad late Thursday. He is survived by two sons and a daughter. The Dadasaheb Phalke awardee and five-time national award winner was suffering from age-related ailments. He was cremated on Friday, February 3. Viswanath became a national phenomenon with his award-winning classic Telugu film 'Sankarabharanam' (1980), which proved a huge hit and is still considered to be one of his best works.

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Veteran actress Jamuna passed away on January 17 after a brief illness. She was 86. She breathed her last at her residence in Hyderabad. Jamuna, who acted in about 200 movies in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, is survived by a son and a daughter. Jamuna, whose real name was Jana Bai, made her acting debut at the age of 16 with Puttillu (1953) directed by Garikapari Rajarao. Jamuna also starred in 11 Hindi films. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rajahmundry in 1989, but quit politics after the defeat in 1991.

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Popular Telugu dubbing artist, A Srinivasa Murthy passed away on January 27 in Chennai due to health issues. The son of veteran playback singer AVN Murthy, Srinivasa started his dubbing career in Tollywood in the early 1990s and apart from dubbing for some of the biggest superstars down south, has also dubbed in Telugu for several Bollywood films. He is also well known for giving his voice to prominent Tamil actors like Ajith and Chiyaan Vikram. He provided Telugu dubbing for Kannada star Upendra and Malayalam actor Mohan Lal, respectively. The late dubbing artist has also given his voice to Hrithik Roshan starrers 'Bang Bang', 'Krrish', 'Krrish3', 'Kaabil' and 'Dhoom 2'.

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Popular Telugu director 'Vidyasagar Reddy' passed away at his residence in Chennai on February 2. He had been suffering from health issues for some time and breathed his last on Thursday. Vidyasagar, who was born on March 1, 1952 in a village called Nidamarru near Mangalagiri, passed away at the age of 70. He directed almost 30 films in his 40-year film career. Vidyasagar who made his debut as a director with the movie 'Rakasi Loya' starring Naresh and Vijayashanthi, was a superhit.

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Young Tollywood actor Sudheer Varma has committed suicide at his residence in Visakhapatnam on January 23. The reasons for Sudher's suicide are yet to be known. He is known for his 2016 film Kundanapu Bomma, which was presented by K Raghavendra Rao. Sudhakar Komakula of Life is Beautiful fame, and Chandini Chowdary played other lead roles in this movie. He has also starred in films like Second Hand and Shootout at Alair. Shootout at Alair is a web series produced by Chiranjeevi's daughter Sushmita Konidela.

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