Vidyasagar, South Indian actress Meena's husband, dies at 48

The businessman had been receiving treatment for a lung infection at a hospital in Chennai

Actress Meena with her husband, Vidyasagar, and daughter, Nainika, in a family photo posted on Facebook. Photo: Facebook

The husband of popular South Indian actress Meena has died. Vidyasagar, a businessman, was undergoing treatment for a lung infection at a private hospital in Chennai. He was 48.

According to Indian media reports, Vidyasagar contracted Covid-19 in March, and is believed to have developed a lung infection as a result. His condition had been deteriorating in the past few weeks.

"Waking up to a terrible news. Heartbroken to learn actor Meena's husband, Sagar, is no more with us. He was battling lung ailment for long. Heart goes out to Meena n her young daughter. Life is cruel. At loss of words to express grief. Deepest condolences to the family," actress and politician Khushbu Sundar posted on Twitter.

In another tweet, Sundar urged the media to "be a little responsible" in their coverage of the news.

"Meena's husband had Covid-19 three months back. Covid worsened his lung condition. Please do not send out a wrong message and create any kind of fear or cause flutter by saying we lost Sagar to Covid," she said.

Meena, who began her career as a child actress in 1982, married Vidyasagar in 2009. The couple have a daughter, Nainika, 11.

Proficient in all the South Indian languages, Meena has starred in mostly Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films over her career, as well as a handful of Hindi movies. She appeared in films alongside some of the biggest names in South India — from Rajinikanth to Chiranjeevi and Mammootty.

Her Malayalam film with Mohanlal, the 2013 thriller Drishyam, spawned a sequel, as well as remakes in several languages, including a Bollywood version.

Born Meena Durairaj in Chennai, the actress is popularly known by her mononym, as is common among actors in South India. She is also trained in the Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam.

Her daughter, Nainika, followed in her mother's footsteps, and in 2016, the youngster starred in her first movie, Tamil feature Theri, aged 5.