New Delhi: Veteran actor Vinod Khanna breathed his last on Thursday after a difficult battle with cancer. Condolences poured in for the Amar, Akbar, Anthony star with actors Rishi Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Akshay Kumar, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and cricketers Virender Sehwag and Shikhar Dhawan expressing their grief on Twitter.
Khanna, a BJP MP from Gurdaspur in Punjab, was seen in lead roles in several popular films, including Mere Apne, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Gaddaar, Jail Yatra, Imitihaan, Inkaar, Kuchhe Dhaage, Amar Akbar Anthony, Rajput, Qurbani, Kudrat, Dayavan, Kaarnam, Suryaa: An Awakening and Jurm.
Here are some lesser-known facts about his life:
1. He was one of the few actors who started his acting career with negative roles. He later graduated to a mainstream hero. He debuted in Sunil Dutt's 1968 film Man Ka Meet directed by Adurthi Subba Rao, as a villain.
2. He got his first break as the solo lead hero in the film Hum Tum Aur Woh in the year 1971 opposite Bharati Vishnuvardhan.
3. Although he was part of films like Purab Aur Paschim (1970), Sachaa Jhutha (1970) and Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971), it was Parvarish (1977) which brought him to limelight, in which he shared the screen space with Amitabh Bachchan. Box-office hit Amar Akbar Anthony was also released in the same year.
4. Between the years, 1971–1982 the actor starred in 47 multi-hero films, including, Ek Aur Ek Gyarah, Hera Pheri, Khoon Pasina, Amar Akbar Anthony, Zameer, Parvarish and Muqaddar Ka Sikandar.
5. Reportedly, his role in Qurbani was first offered to Amitabh Bachchan. The role came to Khanna after Big B refused it. The film went on to be the highest-grossing film of that year and a musical hit.
6. In the period 1974-1982 Vinod Khanna was paid more than Jeetendra in the film Insaan and more than Amitabh Bachchan in 4 films like Parvarish, Hera Pheri, Khoon Pasina, Amar Akbar Anthony. Khanna was paid more than Rishi Kapoor, Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Rajinikanth, Salman Khan in the films he did with them from 1987-1995.
7. In 1982, Khanna took a break from film industry for five years after he became a follower of spiritual teacher Osho (Rajneesh).
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