Film critic and actor Mahesh Kathi passed away on Saturday, July 10. The film critic had met with an accident on June 25 while travelling on the Chennai-Kolkata National Highway in Kodavalur Mandal in Nellore district. The news was confirmed to TNM by a family friend. According to them, Mahesh passed away at around 4 pm. Further, TNM also confirmed with the Apollo Greams Road hospital in Chennai where Mahesh had been admitted to. The family have left for Chennai to collect the mortal remains.
Mahesh Kathi gained prominence over the last few years for his sharp reviews on Telugu cinema. His reviews on movies were known for being controversial and he frequently found himself in online spats with fans of Tollywood actors, especially Pawan Kalyan. He also appeared as a contestant on season one of popular show Bigg Boss Telugu, besides appearing in movies like Hrudaya Kaleyam and Kobbari Matta.
He later became a frequent panelist on television news channels, known often for defending rationalist views. He had also come out in defense of rationalist Babu Gogineni, when the latter was booked for sedition.
In 2018, Mahesh, who is a Dalit, had a confrontation with religious groups over his comments on lord Rama. “For me, Ramayana is just another story…I believe Rama is as much a cheater (dagulbhaji) as he is ideal in that story. And I think perhaps Sita would have been better, might have gotten justice if she had stayed with Ravana. What’s wrong with that?”
These remarks made during a news debate snowballed into a major controversy, eventually leading to the Telangana police banning him from entering Hyderabad for a period of six months.
The police had accused him of making controversial remarks which could cause social unrest and externed him from Hyderabad for a period of six months, by invoking the Telangana Prevention of Anti-Social and Hazardous Activities Act,1980. While several people including prominent religious seers had hit out against Mahesh for his comments, many activists had backed him and said that the move to extern him was against free speech.
Mahesh was frequently in the news for his controversial and unapologetic stands on various issues. Speaking about the several cases registered against him, he had said in an interview in July 2020, "I say that one has to abide by the law. And one needs to question the law as well if it is doing any mistake. That's the ignition given by Dr BR Ambedkar. Small to medium range attacks happened to me. I love to live in the way I wish to. I am prepared to die in the process."