Mimicry artiste V Hari Kishan no more

Renowned Telugu mimicry artiste V Hari Kishan, who made waves in the field, passed away in Hyderabad on Saturday. The 57-year-old artiste, who was undergoing treatment for a kidney ailment, died of cardiac arrest.

Born on May 30, 1963, in Eluru, West Godavari, Hari Kishan began mimicry at the age of 8 on May 12, 1971. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son. Over the years, Hari Kishan rose to fame with his impeccable mimicry skill and inspired several people including actor Siva Reddy to follow in his footsteps.

He received many awards and also earned the title Sata Kantha Dhvanyanukarana Dureena for mimicking 100 voices in an hour. He carved a niche for himself by imitating the style of dialogue delivery and voices of Late NT Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Krishna, Sobhan Babu, Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh among others. 

His skill to recreate the dinosaur sounds from director Steven Spielberg's science fiction adventure film Jurassic Park (1993), Anaconda (1997), The Mummy (1999) and several political and sports stalwarts have earned him a special place in the field. Hari Kishan also appeared in films like  Jayam Manadera (2000), Thotti Gang, Seshu, O Chinadana, Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu (2002), Subash Chandra Bose (2005) and Evadaithe Nakenti (2007). 

Hari Kishan also worked as a lecturer in Department of Mimicry in the Potti Sri Ramulu Telugu University for a brief period.  An ardent admirer of mimicry maestro Padmasri Dr Nerella Venu Madhav, Hari Kishan gave over 10,000 performances across the world. He presented a programme named Navvite Navaratnalu on a popular regional television channel and is currently doing a show in a famous radio channel. 

Many celebrities, fans and well-wishers from the film industry took to social media to express their condolences.