Kannada film star Chiranjeevi Sarja dies of heart attack at young age

Bengaluru: Promising Kannada film actor Chiranjeevi Sarja died, aged 39, of a heart attack in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Sources close to the actor said Chiranjeevi complained of severe chest pain and respiratory problems on Saturday and was rushed to the Sagar Hospital in Jayanagar.

Doctors said he had suffered a heart attack and attempted to revive him, but the efforts failed. Chiranjeevi Sarja is survived by his wife Meghana Raj, daughter of veteran actors Prameela Joshi and Sundar Raj.

Throat swabs taken from the actor have been sent for testing.

Chiranjeevi Sarja made his Kannada film debut in the 2009 movie Vaayuputra,. He won a huge fan following with the success of Varadanayaka (2013), in which he acted along with Nikesha Patel and shared screen space with Sudeep. Prior to that, he had worked with Arjun Sarja for about four years as an assistant director.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, actress Sharmiela Mandre said, "It's truly shocking that Chiru is no more. We worked together in Aake and he was so positive, he was ready to work 24 hours. He demise has made us all sad and our industry has lost a promising actor."

Chiranjeevi is the nephew of actor Arjun Sarja. His younger brother Dhruva Sarja is a lead actor in Kannada cinema.

Chiranjeevi won the Best Debutant Actor Award for his role in Vayuputra. After that, he starred in a series of films like Dandam Dasghanum, Varadanayaka, Vishal, Chandralekha, Ajith, Rudratandava, Player, Ramalila, She, Samhara, Ziesar.