Srihari, 49, who was two movies short of his 100th film, will remain a shining star for his sterling character roles and for his humane side - as someone who always gave a helping hand to anyone who approached him.

Sounds ironical, but the same words that Srihari uttered thunderously in ‘Magadheera’ in 2009 – ‘Malli pudatavra Bhairava (you will reborn Bhairava), can be applied to the talented Telugu actor who passed away on Wednesday evening in Mumbai.

Srihari, with an impressive filmography of over 98 movies, died even before he touched 50 years. Born in Balanagar, Hyderabad, on August 15, 1964, he started his acting career as an antagonist in Telugu cinema. Although he started his filmi career as a stunt fighter, veteran director Dasari Narayana Rao introduced him through Krishnam Raju-starrer ‘Brahamanaidu’ in 1986. His first movie as a hero was ‘Police’ which boasted of a great opening for a small budget movie in those days.

The actor who is happily married to former actress Shanti has two sons. He showed his human side when he established Akshara Foundation (in memory of his daughter Akshara who passed away when she was four months) and adopted four villages in Medchal.

Speaking about the actor’s sudden death, director Vamsi Paidipally who worked him for ‘Brindavanam’, said: “He is one of the most genuine persons that I have ever come across. The amount of confidence that he gives to a director is amazing. He and his wife Shanti had a chat with director Apoorva Lakhia (who directed the Ram Charan-starrer ‘Thoofan, the Telugu version of ‘Zanjeer’) in Mumbai till about 4 pm on Wednesday. He complained of a stomach ache and left for Lilavati Hospital. He went to hospital by himself and within 15 minutes he was no more. I know everybody in his family very well and I can understand what they are going through.”

In an interview to Hans Talkies on August 15 on the occasion of his birthday, Srihari – better known as the Sher Khan of Tollywood, looked forward to contest on behalf of Congress from Kukatpally in the coming elections. When asked how he sees the future of Telugu film industry since Telangana is now a reality, the Telangana-born actor said, “I will speak after the separation.” His piece of advice to upcoming actors – “Even if you have a little spark inside you, the film industry will encourage you.”

Answering a question on whether he faced any hurdles while struggling to enter the film world since he was from Telangana and that the lion’s share of Tollywood’s populace hails from Andhra, he replied, “I’ve always believed in my work and if you are good at it, you will conquer it, regardless of the surroundings. My aim was always to succeed as an actor and I’ve focused on it.”

Known for his dialogue-delivery, he remembered Dasari Narayana Rao, Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Mohan Babu, K Raghavendra Rao and Kodanda Ramireddy who have always encouraged him. “Cameraman VSR Swamy, during my early career, advised me to work in small films too. His funda was that they are around 200-250 people who work for a film and they constantly move to other sets. If they like my performance they are expected to tell to other production staff, who in turn might be close to the filmmakers. I followed it,” he recollected in August.

His last release was ‘Police Game’ while his forthcoming releases include ‘Rough’, ‘Shiva Keshav’, ‘R Rajkumar,’ (Hindi) and ‘Weekend Love’.