Thoogudeepa Srinivas

Srinivas was born to Muniswami and Parvathamma on 17 April 1943 as their fourth son. He had eight siblings. He lost his parents at a young age. Right from his childhood days, Srinivas was interested in theatre and cinema and was a regular participant in his school and college plays. During one of these plays, he caught the eye of another theatre artist M. P. Shankar, whom he later went on to star with in many Kannada films. Srinivas then became a regular member of Shankar's camp and had to discontinue his education during his pursuing of a Bachelor of Science from St. Philomena's College, Mysore.^[2]

Srinivas made his film debut in 1966 with K. S. L. Swamy's Kannada film Thoogudeepa. His debut film became part of his professional identity as he was referred to from then on as Thoogudeepa Srinivas. He went on to appear in many other successful films such as Mayor Muthanna, Bangaarada Panjara, Gandhada Gudi, Kalla Kulla, Vasantha Lakshmi and Sahasa Simha. He appeared in many films as a villain with Rajkumar as the lead actor and his "partners in crime" included other popular actors such as Vajramuni, Doddanna and Dheerendra Gopal.^[3]

Srinivas appeared in an important role in the 1984 film Ramapurada Ravana. He received appreciation for his roles in films such as Sipayi Ramu, Giri Kanye and Bhagyavantharu.^[3]

Srinivas married Meena on 15 November 1973 in Ponnampet, Kodagu. The couple have three children together — Darshan, Dinakar and Divya. Darshan is a popular actor in Kannada cinema and Dinakar is a film director.^[3]

Srinivas suffered from diabetes and kidney ailment. His wife Meena donated one of her kidneys to him. However, he died due to a massive heart attack on 16 October 1995, aged 52.^[3]