Sad news out of Bollywood today. Legendary actor Vinod Khanna has passed away at the age of 70 after a battle with cancer.

Tushar Pania, a spokesperson for Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital confirmed Khanna died today at 11:30 am (Indian time) due to bladder carcinoma.

Khanna made his Bollywood debut in 1968 and acted in over 100 films including memorable performances in “Mere Apne”, “Kachhe Dhaage” and “Amar Akbar Anthony”. In 1982, he temporarily quit the film industry to join spiritual guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh but resumed his acting career after 5 years.

In 1997 he entered politics as a member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party representing the Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab. He also served as the junior externals affairs minister and culture and tourism minister.

He married his first wife, Geetanjali, in 1971 and had two sons who followed in his footsteps into acting—Rahul and Akshaye Khanna. He later married again, this time to wife Kavita, in 1990 and they had two children together—a son and daughter.

The Bachchans arrive

Ever since the sad news broke, tributes have been pouring in and many well-known personalities have been spotted at Khanna’s funeral today in Mumbai. Some of the well-known faces include Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Kabir Bedi, Arjun Rampal, Jackie Shroff, Jeetendra, Ramesh Taurani, Dia Mirza, Subhash Ghai, NCP leader Praful Patel, and BJP MP Kirit Somaiya among many others.

Rishi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan at the funeral

Director Karan Johar tweeted this today, announcing he was cancelling the premiere of his film Baahubali out of respect. “As a mark of respect to our beloved Vinod Khanna the entire team of Baahubali has decided to cancel the premiere tonight…” he wrote.

Vinod”s sons arrive

The extent of Khanna’s illness was not well known. Just last month, his son Akshaye had told media his father was doing “better” after he was admitted to the hospital due to severe dehydration. It was only when a photo of Khanna began circulating where he looked almost unrecognizable that we all started wondering if Khanna was in bad shape. He appeared pale, frail, and very thin. Out of respect for his family, I have chosen not to post the photo on this blog. However, when that photo began appearing in various Indian tabloids, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Meghalaya observed a two-minute silence to pay respect to the actor as they believed Khanna had died without verifying it. The party later issued an apology and said Khanna was responding well to treatment.