A photo of Vira Sathidar from Search. (Image courtesy: Instagram)
Strong points
- Vira Sathidar was known for her performance in the 2014 Film Short
- He died early in the morning Tuesday
- He died of sudden cardiopulmonary arrest in COVID-19 pneumonia
New Delhi:
Actor Vira Sathidar, best known for his performance in the nationally awarded film Search, died of complications from COVID-19 on Tuesday in Nagpur, PTI news agency reported. Vira Sathidar, who was also an activist, was undergoing treatment at AIIMS Nagpur after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. He died early in the morning on Tuesday due to sudden cardiopulmonary arrest in COVID-19 pneumonia with respiratory failure, a hospital official said, PTI reported. Filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane, who worked with Sathidar in the 2014 film Search, said the actor was on life support after being admitted to hospital last week. Chaitanya Tamhane told PTI: “He had COVID-19 and was put on a ventilator. This is extremely unfortunate news. It has not yet sunk.”
Vira Sathidar became popular after playing in Search, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature in 2015. In the film, he played the role of a protesting singer named Narayan Kamble, who is accused of instigating the suicide of a sewer worker by the one of his folk songs.
Speaking of Vira Sathidar’s death, Chaitanya Tamhane called it a “huge shock” and added: “He was not only an actor, activist and poet, but also one of the most beautiful human beings that I met.. She was a fantastic person and I can only think of the time we spent doing Search», PTI reported.
Search also played Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Usha Bane and Shirish Pawar. The film has won several awards at film festivals around the world.
Apart from Search, who was India’s official entry to the Oscars in 2016, Vira Sathidar has featured in two other shorts.