Veteran character actor Sarath Babu who has appeared in hundreds of movies in all South Indian languages and Hindi passed away a little while earlier. He was 71 and is survived by a son Gowtham and daughter Kavya with his ex-wife actress Rama Prabha and a son Sai Karthik and daughter Pallavi with another ex-wife Snehalatha.

Sarath Babu was sufferring from multiple organ failure for the past several months and his siblings had to refute death rumours twice. Born in Andhra Pradesh he made his Tamil debut in the year 1977 with the movie 'Pattinapravesam' after which he shined in several leading and supporting roles in movies such as K. Balachander's 'Nizhal Nijamagirathu', 'Sattam', 'Annamalai', 'Mullum Malarum' and many others. A veteran of over 200 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, HIndi and Malayalam languages fans especially enjoyed his chemistry with both Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan playing their friends in many films.

Kamal Haasan in his tribute to Sarath Babu on Twitter wrote in Tamil "A great actor and a great friend, Sarathbabu has passed away. The days of acting with him are in my mind as a shadow. Introduced by my Guru (K. Balacander) in Tamil he excelled in many timeless roles. Cinema has lost a good actor. My tribute to him."

Kamal Haasan and Sarath Babu have acted together in many films. including 'Nizhal Nijamagirathu', 'Ninaithale Inikkum', 'Sippikkul Muthu', 'Sattam' and 'Aalavanthaan'.

Similarly, Sarathbabu has acted in many movies with Rajinikanth such as 'Mullum Malarum', 'Velaikaran', 'Muthu', 'Baba' and 'Annamalai'. He has also appeared with Ajith in 'Uyirodu Uyiraga' and Vijay in 'Puthiya Geethai'RIP!.

சிறந்த நடிகரும், அருமை நண்பருமான சரத்பாபு மறைந்துவிட்டார். அவருடன் இணைந்து நடித்த நாட்கள் என் மனதில் நிழலாடுகின்றன. தமிழில் என் குருநாதரால் அறிமுகப்படுத்தப்பட்டவர். காலத்தால் அழியாத பல பாத்திரங்களை ஏற்று சிறப்பு செய்தவர். ஒரு நல்ல நடிகரை சினிமா இழந்திருக்கிறது.

அவருக்கு என்…

— Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) May 22, 2023