Goodbyes aren't forever: Ghattamaneni family issues statement on Krishna's demise 

Following the demise of veteran Telugu actor Ghattamaneni Siva Rama Krishna Murthy aka Krishna, his family released a statement, paying their respects to the veteran artist.

“It is with the deepest grief that we inform you of the passing of our dearest Krishna garu. He was a superstar in so many ways beyond the movie screen... guided by love humility and compassion. He will live on through this work, through us, and the many lives he influenced. He loved us more than anything and we will miss more with each passing day... but as they say, goodbyes aren't forever. Until we meet again...” the statement read.

Krishna was born on May 31, 1942, and has acted in over 350 films. A pioneer in the Telugu film industry, he is the first to star in Cinemascope film (Alluri Seetharama Raju, 1974), the first Eastman colour film (Eenadu, 1982), the first 70mm 4 track Stereophonic sound (Simhasanam, 1986) and also introducing the cowboy genre with films like Mosagallaki Mosagadu (1971). Krishna was admitted to a private hospital in Hyderabad following a cardiac arrest on Monday. Subsequently, he died due to multi-organ failure on Tuesday.

He was 79.

Krishna is survived by his children Manjula, Padmavathi, Priyadarshini, and Mahesh Babu. It is to be noted that both Mahesh’s mother Indira Devi and brother Ramesh Babu, died earlier this year.