Soundarya killed in air crash

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... ~air~crash

BANGALORE: Popular south Indian actress Soundarya, who joined BJP recently, was among four persons killed in a helicopter crash at Jakkur near Bangalore on Saturday, party and police sources said.

Soundarya, famous for her role in Suryavamsham , was accompanied by her brother, who is also feared to have been killed in the crash.

Soundarya was going to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh to campaign for BJP when the four-seater chopper crashed, Karnataka BJP President H N Ananth Kumar said.

That's sad news to hear.


EDIT

http://sify.com/movies/telugu/fullstory.php?id=13456310

Soundarya's death shocks Tollywood


Sunday, 18 April , 2004, 08:23

Slide-Show: See pictures of the crash
A pall of gloom has descended on the Telugu film industry, which lost one of its top actresses Soundarya on Saturday.

Mega star of Telugu films, Chiranjeevi, who acted with Soundarya in various films, said: "The industry has lost one of its talented actresses. We will miss her."

Another top actor Venkatesh described her as a nice human being and a good actress.

Srikant, one of the popular actors of Telugu film industry who acted with the actress in many films, was shocked on hearing the news. "I cannot believe she is no more. She was a nice person and known for discipline and hard work," he said.

He said he along with other film personalities would be leaving for Bangalore to attend the last rites.

"She was known for her dedication and commitment," said actress Nagma, who is campaigning for the Congress.

Another BJP leader and famous actress Vijayashanti termed her death as "unfortunate". Vijayashanti, who is in Sholapur in Maharashtra, is rushing to Bangalore.

Born in Bangalore, the actress, whose real name was Soumya, discontinued her medical education to enter the film industry.

In 1992, she started acting in Telugu films and her first film was 'Raitu Bhartam'. Soon she became Telugu film industry's top actress. She also won the Nandi honour, the topmost award for excellence in Telugu cinema last year.

She also won the national award for producing and acting in Kannada film 'Dweepa', directed by Girish Kasaravalli.

Soundarya had married her distant relative in Bangalore last year.

Her sudden death has affected work in many films including a few big banner films. She was doing the role of the mythological character Draupadi in a film featuring Balakrishna.

The death of the actress also came as a rude shock to the BJP and its ally, TDP. She was scheduled to address a series of meetings in Karimnagar district and then reach Hyderabad to campaign for BJP candidates.

In Karimnagar, she was to campaign for BJP leader Vidyasagar Rao. The Central minister is seeking re-election from Karimnagar. "I don't know how to react. It is a big tragedy. I have never seen this tragedy in my life," said Vidyasagar Rao.

The meetings Soundarya was to address in Karimnagar have been cancelled and some of them turned into condolence meetings.

TDP president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Home Minister T Devender Goud and other TDP leaders have expressed shock and grief over Soundarya's death. She had also featured in an election advertisement by TDP.

Filmography

Ah now I think I know who she was. She was that young girl that old man Amitabh (playing the son) was chasing after in Suryavansham. I can remember the 'love song' Amitabh was singing to her. It looks as if it could've been his daughter!

It's sad she died though.

http://www.cinesouth.com/masala/hotnews ... 04-2.shtml

Soundarya had died in a plane crash. Enquiries into the accident were ordered.

Soundarya had taken a chartered plane to campaign for the BJP in Bangalore. Within seconds of take off, the plane tilted to its left and crashed from a height of 100-200 ft. Investigations have begun on the reason behind the crash. Air control officials from New Delhi were brought down to Bangalore.

“The tiny plane with 4 seats and I engine was 49 years old. We don’t now if the plane had been certified as useable,” claim the engineers who took a look at the plane. All the papers concerning the plane had been seized. There are no papers in the company that owned the plane.

“In its 49 years of existence, the plane had flown for more than 7110 hours. We don’t know if it has its proper papers and insurance,” says the General Secretary of the Department of Civil Aviations.