Chennai
What’s more, he played the hero in the Hindi remake of Kamal Haasan-Mani Ratnam’s iconic film Nayagan, titled Dayavan. Also, he had a lot in common with our own Rajinikanth in terms of film career and personal life, as both, having debuted as villains, worked their way out to rule their respective film industries, while sharing a penchant for spirituality. In fact, Vinod Khanna quit films at the peak of his career to be with his spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh before he made a comeback after five years.
Rajinikanth who played Vinod Khanna’s role of Amar in the Tamil remake of Amar Akbar Antony, tweeted on Thursday within hours after the demise of the actor: “My dear friend Vinod Khanna... will miss you, RIP. My heartfelt condolences to the family.”
Celebrated as the most handsome actor of his era, Khanna never shied away from dual hero subjects or multi-starrers and in fact has done several films with Amitabh Bachchan in the 70s including Muqaddar Ka Sikander (1978), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Hera Pheri (1976) and Parvarrish (1977), which were blockbusters.
While his latest film was Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dilwale, his last film will probably be Guns of Benaras, again a remake of Tamil film, Polladhavan. Actor Ganesh Venkatraman, who shares screen space with him in the film, says, it was shocking to hear the news of Khanna’s demise just when he was dubbing for the film. “It was a scene where Vinod Khanna ji appears on screen and before I began dubbing, it was stopped. Within minutes we were updated of his demise, while I was still looking at him on screen. It feels like serendipity,” says Ganesh.
Ganesh remembers Khanna as a warm personality with genuine concern for his co-stars. “We would meet him for breakfast during the shoot and he would ask how the work has been,” he says. Khanna would be very eager to know about technicians and producers from the South he had worked with in the past, says Ganesh.
CELEBS CONDOLE
A valiant fighter not only in movies. His battle against cancer was brave His his work will be remembered. No more pain Dear Vinodh Bhai — Kamal Haasan
The Swag, the Style, the Self confidence -#VinodKhanna, RIP — Arvind Swami
RIP #VinodKhanna stylish and charismatic always... Great star! — Siddharth
Deeply saddened to hear the passing away of #VinodKhanna. Condolences to the family. RIP! — Sarathkumar
RIP shri #VinodKhanna ji. An icon who battled #cancer valiantly n with dignity. He will be remembered as a gentleman and a philosopher — Gautami
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