Veteran Telugu director Sagar passes away at 70 MGG

Veteran Telugu director Vidya Sagar, who is popularly known as Sagar, passed away on Thursday. At the age of 70, he reportedly took his last breath after battling a long illness. According to reports, the director has been ill for many months and left for a heavenly abode at his residence in Chennai. Several filmmakers took to social media and paid their last respects and offered condolences.

Sagar began his career as a director in 1983 with the film Rakasi Loya starring Naresh and Vijaya Shanti. Thereafter, he delivered blockbuster movies in Telugu like  Public Rowdy, Daadi, Nakshatra Poratam, Amma Donga, Bharatasimham, Ammanaakodalaa, Alumagalu, Jagadekaveerudu, Ramasakkanodu, Osi Naa Maradala, Anveshana, Action No.1, Khaidi Brothers, etc. Sagar is best known for making action films with actors Bhanu Chander, Suman, Arun Pandian, Vinod, and Krishna Ghattamaneni, among others. Sagar also served three times as president of the Telugu Directors Association.

His 1991 film ‘Stuvartpuram Dongalu’ is very popular among Telugu audiences. Many Tollywood celebs are mourning his death, His last rites will be reportedly performed in Chennai this evening.

Several young filmmakers like Srinu Vaitla, VV Vinayak, Ravi Kumar Chowdhary, and G Nageswara Reddy worked as assistant directors under him and later went on to become successful directors in the Telugu film industry. VV Vinayak is currently busy with his next Bollywood project with Bellamkonda Sreenivas, which is a remake of the Telugu film Chatrapthi. The film is bankrolled by Pen Studios. On the other hand, Srini Vaitla is known for the blockbuster movie Dhee and is gearing up for a sequel very soon. The director is reportedly busy working on the script of Dhee 2, which featured Manchu Vishnu.