Mr. Ashwath is a eminent artist with deep knowledge about the movie making, probably he is the only person to have overshadowed the lead roles of the movie eventhough he used be the supporting actor. As per puranas Bhisma waited for the uttarayana punya kala to come to exit his soul from his body, similarly Mr. Ashwath(is indeed the Bheeshma of Kannada Movie world) has passed away during the uttarayana punya kala what a co-incidence
may his soul rest in peace, he is a great human being with down to earth personailty, simple and always projected himself as an ordinary person though he is one of the leading actors of Kannada film industry
There are some character actors in Kannada film industry, for no fault of theirs, appear irritating-maybe for over exposure, for some irritating mannerisms, hamming, etc. We however welcomed Chemmaya meshtru (Nagarhavu)any number of times he appeared on screen. IN fact missed him sometimes in a movie, when he didnt appear on screen. His death only proved that he was human like the rest of us. Otherwise his acting made the scenes on screen almost come live. Among character artists, he was simply God.
