Veteran Actor AK Hangal Passes Away

TNI Bureau: Veteran actor Avtar Kishen Hangal is no more. He took his last breathe in a Mumbai hospital today morning. He was 95. Top Bollywood personalities rushed to pay homage to the great actor after the report was aired.

Hangal was admitted to the Asha Parekh Hospital in Santa Cruz after his thigh bone was fractured last week. His condition remained critical. He was put on the life support yesterday, but doctors decided to take him off the ventilator after his condition deteriorated. He took his last breathe at around 9 am on Sunday.

His son Vijay told that his father could not undergo surgery as the doctors attending to him suggested that the operation could not carried out due to his advanced age. He was also suffering from several ailments including tuberculosis, high blood pressure and kidney dysfunction.

Hangal has acted in over 200 films during 1966 to 2005. He is best known for his roles: Rahim Chacha in ‘Sholay’, Bipinlal Pandey in ‘Namak Haram’, Inder Sen in ‘Shaukin’ and Ram Shastri in ‘Aaina’.

Born on February 1, 1917 into a Kashmiri Pandit family, he spent his childhood in Peshawar, where he got opportunities to perform in theatre. He had also joined the Indian freedom struggle. He moved to Mumbai (Bombay) after the Partition of India in 1949 spending 3 years in prison in Pakistan.

Hangal had been associated with the theatre group IPTA along with personalities like Balraj Sahni and Kaifi Azmi. He started his career in Hindi film at the very late age of 50 with Basu Bhattacharya’s ‘Teesri Kasam’ in 1966 and ‘Shagird’. Later he played the role of father or uncle of the heroes and heroines in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

He is best remembered for his roles in the films like ‘Namak Haraam’, ‘Shaukeen’ (1981), ‘Sholay’, ‘Aaina’ (1977), ‘Avtaar’, ‘Arjun’, ‘Aandhi’, ‘Tapasya’, ‘Kora Kagaz’, ‘Bawarchi’, ‘Chhupa Rustam’, ‘Chitchor’, ‘Balika Badhu’, ‘Guddi’, ‘Naram Garam’.

He had acted in a number of films with the legendary actor Rajesh Khanna in ‘Aap Ki Kasam’, ‘Amar Deep’, ‘Naukri’, ‘Thodisi Bewafaii’, ‘Phir Wohi Raat’, ‘Kudrat’, ‘Aaj Ka M.L.A. Ram Avtar’, ‘Bewafai’, ‘Sautela Bhai’.

He could be remembered for his best performances in his later years in the films like ‘Shararat’ (2002), ‘Tere Mere Sapne’ (1997) and ‘Lagaan’. Even he has left his mark on small screen. He had played some characters in the TV serials like Bombay Blue (1997), Chandrakanta (1996), and Hotel Kingston (2004).

The veteran had received the prestigious award Padma Bhushan for his contribution to Hindi Cinema in 2006.