Mumbai: Bollywood's first superstar Rajesh Khanna passed away following a prolonged illness, a family friend said. He was 69.
"He is no more," Vijay Zaveri, a close friend, told IANS.
His funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, family sources said.
Kaka, as he was popularly known, is survived by wife Dimple Kapadia and daughters Twinkle and Rinke. The actor's son-in-law Akshay Kumar has returned to India from a shooting stint abroad.
The veteran actor had been battling with health issues for a long time and was frequently admitted to hospital in the last few months.
In April, he was admitted to hospital due to weakness and fatigue but was discharged in three to four days. He was again rushed to the Lilavati Hospital June 23 and discharged after being treated for two weeks.
A week later he was again taken to the hospital after he complained of weakness, but was discharged soon after.
Rajesh began his career with "Aakhri Khat" in 1966. He became a superstar like know other with his work in hits like "Aradhana", "Do Raaste", "Safar" and "Anand". He was last seen in a TV commercial for Havells fans earlier this year.
He appeared in 163 feature
films out of which 128 were as the lead protagonist including 106 as the solo lead hero. He also did 17 short films. He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards and was nominated for the same fourteen times. He received the maximum BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) four times and nominated 25 times. He was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. Khanna is referred to as the "First Superstar" of Hindi
cinema.
