Popular south Indian actor Murali died of heart attack at a private hospital in Chennai this morning. The 46-year-old actor was recently admitted to the hospital in Chennai. He breathed his last at 4.00 am due to a cardiac failure. He is survived by wife Shobha, son Atharva and daughter.

Murali was the son of famous Kannada film director Siddlingaiah, who had done hit movies like Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu and Bangarada Manusha. He started his acting career with the Tamil movie Poovilangu and later starred in Kannada films too. He acted in nearly 60 films.

His first film in Kannada was Prem Parva. Later he starred in Kannada films like Sambavami Yuge Yuge, Ajay Vijay and Prem Gange. The film Ajay was his superhit Kannada movie of the time. He is always remembered for the song 'Hero Hero Naane Naane...', which is very popular even today.

Recently, he had played a cameo role in his son Atharva's debut film Baana Kaathadi. With his wonderful acting skills, he immoratalised several simpleton characters in Tamil and Kannada films. His sudden death is a big loss to the South Indian film industry.

We at Oneindia express our deepest condolences to his family and friends.