Kannada film world will badly miss Vishnuvardhan, as the top actor breathed his last in Mysore in the wee hours of today following a heart attack. He was 60.

A close friend of Rajinikanth, Vishnuvardhan’s blockbuster ‘Apthamithra’ inspired the Tamil Superstar to remake it as ‘Chandramukhi’, which too turned out as one of the biggest hits.

Vishnuvardhan's 200th film 'Aptharaksha', directed by P Vasu and a sequel to 'Apthamithra' is over and ready for release.

Popularly referred to as the Phoenix of Kannada cinema, Vishnuvardhan is survived by his wife Bharathi and two adopted daughters, Keerthi and Chandana.

Vishnuvardhan shot into stardom with his role of an angry young rebel in ‘Naagarahavu’. This movie was later remade into Hindi as ‘Zehreela Insaan’, starring Rishi Kapoor.

Some other notable movies of Vishnuvardhan include ‘Gandhada Gudi’ (his only movie with Rajakumar), ‘Bhootayyana Maagu Ayyu’, ‘Bandhana’, ‘Mutthina Haara’.

He is also an acclaimed singer, having given playback for his movies, and appeared in ‘Viduthalai’, the Tamil remake of ‘Qurbani’, playing the role of Vinod Khanna. Other Tamil films he had acted include 'Mazhalai Pattalam' (directed by Lakshmi) and 'Sri Raghavendra'.

In 2005 Vishnuvardhan, whose real name was Sampath Kumar, was awarded honorary doctorate by the Bangalore University.