STAR OF THE MONTH NAGARJUNA

'He Was The Most Complete Human Being I Know'

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The illness must have shattered the family. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he gave us the strength and courage to face the impending tragedy. He taught us to deal with it. He fought the disease as long as he could. He was on the sets of our family film Manam when he collapsed.

When they opened him up, he was in the fifth stage of cancer. Until then, he was in the pink of health. The film spans a period from 1920 to 2013. My father plays a 90-year-old.

Except that incomplete song, he completed all the shooting. Fifteen days after surgery, he was at home in bed when he said, 'Bring all the dubbing equipment and do my dubbing for Manam before I get worse or you will get a mimicry artiste to do my dubbing.' He made sure we he completed the film. He developed a pain at the end. We took him to the hospital and for the first time, he had to be given painkillers. The doctor warned us that it was the beginning of the end. We were told he had two months more and that his condition would get very bad. He said he wanted to go home.

That night (January 21), he called all of us to gather around him. At around 9.30 pm, he asked us to go home. That night he passed away. Thousands of people came. We had to shut the gates, but they kept on coming.

You idolised him, didn't you?

You bet! Right from my childhood, I looked at him with awe. When we went out together, the respect he commanded was visible even to a child. Even if he was not recognised by someone as an actor, my father still commanded the same respect.