Mysore/Mysuru: Dr. Vishnuvardhan passed away due to massive cardiac arrest at a hotel in Mysuru on Dec.30, 2009. However, the mortal remains of the actor was cremated in the premises of Abhiman Studio at Uttarahalli in Bengaluru. However, owing to a dispute related to the land of the Studio, the plans to build a Memorial for the late actor was caught in a limbo. Though alternate land was identified at Mylasandra in Kengeri, Bengaluru, it hit a controversy again, as the land came under buffer zone of Turhalli Forest. 

Eventually, it was decided to build the Memorial at Halalu (Haalaalu) in Mysuru, where the actor was born and brought up, but the hurdles continued to weigh down the plans.

A group of farmers who were cultivating the land, though classified as ‘B’  Kharab land, along with theirs, had moved a local Court and had also brought a civil injunction order, restraining the Memorial plans.  However, the then Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep and Taluk Administration led by past Tahsildars Ramesh Babu and Naveen Joseph succeeded in pleading the case before the High Court, as the land in question was a Government land.  The High Court vacated the civil injunction, thus facilitating the Vishnu Memorial works.

With all the decks cleared, finally foundation for Vishnu Memorial works was laid virtually by the then CM B.S. Yediyurappa in Sept. 2020.