Rajesh Khanna, the first superstar of Bollywood is no more. He passed away at his residence today morning, after a prolonged illness. He was 70. After his film debut in 1966, the talented actor was active till late 80s. He joined politics in 1992, when he won the parliamentary elections on Congress ticket from Delhi. He did try to make comeback in Bollywood, through character roles. But, his ill health prevented him from continuing further. He however appeared in an ad film of ceiling fan, recalling his good old days with huge fan following.

Many Marathi artistes like Sulochana, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Mahesh Kothare, Ramesh Deo and Seema have performed with him in Hindi. In her condolence message offered through a TV channel, Sulochana Didi recalled his good old days and his sincerity to work. Only three days ago actress Amruta Khanvilkar anchored the show on a Marathi television, paying tribute to the first superstar of Indian cinema. He passed away in the same manner, as he enacted the scene in his film ‘Anand’. How can his well wishers forget his famous dialogue from this film, “Zindagi aur maut, sab upperwale ki haath mein hain…”?

Marathi TV news channels are going live with the live coverage outside his bunglow ‘Aashirwad’ on carter Road, Bandra. Simultaneously, a detailed coverage of clippings from some of his past films are being shown on Tv screens, recalling all his golden moments in his life. Producers and distributors of forthcoming Marathi film ‘No Entry.. Pudhe Dhoka Aahe’ have cancelled their today’s ‘first look’ function, due to sad demise of Rajesh Khanna.