Veteran actor Vinod Khanna passes away

Veteran actor Vinod Khanna passed away on 27 April 2017 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was 70.

Khanna was reportedly battling with cancer for years.

About Vinod Khanna

• Born on 6 October 1946 in Peshawar, Vinod Khanna acted in lead roles in many superhit Bollywood movies.

• He is best remembered for his performance in films like Mere Apne, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Gaddaar, Jail Yatra, Kuchhe Dhaage, Amar Akbar Anthony, Rajput, Qurbani, Dayavan, and others.

• He was popularly hailed as one of the most handsome lead actors ever in Bollywood, along with Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna and Shammi Kapoor.

• He made his debut in Bollywood in the year 1968. He first acted in small second lead roles or negative roles.

• At the peak of his film career in 1982, he temporarily quit the film industry to follow his spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh.

• After a 5 year hiatus, he returned to the industry giving two back to back hit films Insaaf and Satyamev Jayate.

• He received the Filmfare award in the Best Supporting Actor category for Haath Ki Safaai. In 1999, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.

• In 1997, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

• He was elected from Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab in the 1998 Lok Sabha poll. In 1999, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the same constituency.

• In July 2002, he became the Union Minister for Culture and Tourism. Six months later, he was moved to the Union Ministry of External Affairs as Minister of State.

• In 2009, he lost out in the Lok Sabha poll. However, he was again elected for 16th Loksabaha from Gurdaspur constituency in 2014 general election.