The film fraternity and movie fans were in for a rude shock this morning, as the news of the death of actor Vinod Khanna broke. The versatile actor took his last breath at HN Reliance Fundation and Research Hospital in Mumbai. He was suffering from advanced bladder carcinoma (cancer) and was admitted to the hospital three weeks ago.
Although his son Rahul Khanna had then said that his father is only suffering from dehydration, the picture of the veteran actor in a frail state that went viral told another tale.
A large number of film fraternity members, including Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar, Karan Johar, Shatrughan Sinha, Manoj Bajpayee, Varun Dhawan, Vivek Oberoi and Ritesh Sidhwani, among others, expressed their grief and spoke of Khanna's films and onscreen presence.
Khanna had also been the Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His death is also mourned by his colleagues from the party including, Union minister for urban development, M Venkaiah Naidu and minister of finance, defence and corporate affairs, Arun Jaitley. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to offer his condolences. "Will always remember Vinod Khanna as a popular actor, dedicated leader & a wonderful human. Pained by his demise. My condolences," he wrote.
His colleague, Rishi Kapoor, who had worked with Khanna in films like Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and Chandni (1989), among others, posted a picture from Chandni and wrote, "Remembering the good times with you,Vinod. Thank you for being my friend."
Naidu had high hopes for Khanna’s complete recovery. Speaking to a news agency, he said, “We were hoping he will recover and again join us, [the] film industry lost good actor, [the] party lost [a] good parliamentarian.”
Ex-Indian cricketers like Virendra Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh also shared condolence messages for the actor.
Here's how industry is reacting to Khanna demise: