In what has shocked the film industry, popular south Indian actress Saundarya was burnt to death Saturday when her aircraft crashed while on its way to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election meeting.

Police commissioner S. Marisamy told IANS that the actress died instantly when the small plane in which she was on her way to campaign for the BJP, which she joined recently, went down soon after take-off.

The dead included her brother Amarnath, BJP leader Ramesh Kadam and the pilot. The accident took place on the Jakkur airstrip on the outskirts of Bangalore as the aircraft caught fire moments after taking off, said BJP leader H.N. Ananth Kumar.

But Marisamy asserted that the fire broke out after the plane came down.

The bodies were charred beyond recognition, police said. The aircraft belonged to Agni Aviation. Saundarya, who had married recently, was on her way to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh.

Saundarya had acted in scores of Telugu, Kannada and Tamil films, starring with leading stars. She won the national award last year for the Kannada film "Dweepa".

The southern Indian film industry appears shocked at the incident.

Saundarya had shot into prominence with the success of her first Malayalam film "Yathrakkarude Shraddhakku". The film was released last year and did well at the box office.

Another of her films released last year was "Kilichundan Mampazham", directed by Priyadarshan and co-starring superstar Mohanlal.

Said Sathyan Anthikad, who made "Yathrakkarude Shraddhakku": "Just this morning I was thinking of her because Saundarya used to write small poems in Kannada.

"It was a strange coincidence that she died just hours later. I always used to admire her for not making any fuss on the sets," he said.

Mohanlal said: "She was an actress with immense potential and this tragedy has occurred when she was going great guns. I and my colleagues are deeply upset and sad."