Kannada journalist filmmaker Shankar dies of heart attack in Bengaluru
N.S. Shankar, a respected name in Kannada journalism and filmmaking, died at 67 after a heart attack at his Bengaluru home on Sunday.
He had just attended a film launch in Kolar the previous day.
With more than 20 years in the field, Shankar worked with well-known publications like Prajavani and Lankesh Patrike, and even co-founded Mungaru and Suddi Sangaati.
Shankar's 'Muttisikondavanu' tackled caste discrimination
Shankar's films often tackled tough social issues: his short film Muttisikondavanu took on caste discrimination, while his debut feature Ulta Palta (1997), a witty Kannada spin on Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, won him a state award for dialogues.
Historian K. Puttaswamy said his writing stood firmly with the oppressed.
The Karnataka chief minister described his passing as an "irreparable loss."
At the time of his death, he was working on an anthology film based on socially relevant stories, a reminder of how much he still had to say.