On Wednesday morning, popular Kannada actor Dileep Raj passed away due to a heart attack. According to reports, he was rushed to the Apollo Hospital in Kumaraswamy Layout, Bengaluru. However, the efforts to save him were unsuccessful. Fans, friends and colleagues quickly visited the hospital, and many Kannada celebrities took to social media to mourn the demise of the 47-year-old actor.
Kantara star Rishab Shetty tweeted, “A good actor, director, producer, and above all, a good human being… Even if we met only a handful of times, the impression of a personality etched in our minds cannot be erased. May your soul rest in peace (sic).”
Shiva Rajkummar, who worked with Dileep in the movie Sugreeva, tweeted, “Dilip Raj’s passing is a shock to the mind. The way he hosted programs, his control over language and his style of speaking were very beautiful to listen to. May God give his family the strength to bear the pain of this separation (sic).”
Writer-Director Akshay S Unni took to Facebook to share his experience of meeting Dileep and narrating him a story. Unni wrote, “May the soul of #DileepRaj rest in peace. He was the perfect artist for the role of the police officer in my film’s story, so I tried to convey my desire to meet him by calling him. Within a few minutes of sitting in the office downstairs from his house, someone from his house brought me tea/coffee (sic).”
Unni further wrote that he told Dileep his screen time in the film would be around 35-45 minutes, and that he wants him to show his six-pack abs. The writer-director concluded, “For some reason, my dream of a movie and that role remained a dream. We met a couple of times. We last met at a restaurant in RR Nagar. I approached him because he was a good actor and suited the role, but after meeting him, I realized that he was a good-natured person (sic).”
Director Simple Suni tweeted, “The #songs from the movie Boyfriend. #Hemanth from the movie Milan. #Otagaara character from the movie Tony are always haunting.. Artists never die.. (sic).”
Actor Chetan Kumar posted on X, “Deeply saddened by passing of gifted artist Dileep Raj at age of 47. I worked directly w/ Mr Raj in 2009 during our song shooting in Goa; he was creative, kind & cool. Im especially thankful to him for giving life to my characters as a dubbing artist. He will be fondly remembered (sic).”
We at The Free Press Journal pray that his soul rest in peace.