Quite recently, particularly the last year saw some extremely talented, though tragic losses to Indian Cinema. The news of these actors passing away shook the nation as a whole and we’ve quite not recovered from some of them yet. Apart from these losses somehow feeling personal to millions of fans, it has also been a huge loss to Bollywood and Indian Cinema as a whole. In this new cinematic era where ‘Content is King’ and with the rise of OTT platforms bringing us new, fresh and innovative content with each passing day, the loss of these talented actors has definitely created a void that cannot be filled. They would have enjoyed and ruled the OTT platforms with their versatility and stunning performances. While these platforms are giving rise to new superstars, there are some roles that we would have loved seeing these talented actors in, since they still hold a special place in our hearts. Indeed, this new dawn of cinema will miss them as much as we think they would have missed ruling these Indian OTT platforms. Here’s a list of the most recent, shocking celebrity deaths that we are having a hard time dealing with.
It’s been just over a year since the young, talented actor passed away. His sudden death by suicide shook us to our very core and honestly, we still don’t know how to deal with this loss. His death has been one of the most tragic and heartbreaking losses for Bollywood fans. As an ode to the 34 year old actor, his social media accounts were not deleted and still have so many fans revisiting them till date. The Television star made his Bollywood debut in 2013 with Abhishek Kapoor’s ‘Kai Po Che’, alongside Rajkummar Rao and Amit Sadh, that went on to become a super hit. Post that, the 2016 ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’ biopic really catapulted him to super stardom and he went on to become one of the most loved actors of this generation. His best, most memorable films apart from his debut include, ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’ with Parineeti Chopra and Vaani Kapoor, ‘Kedarnath’ with Sara Ali Khan, ‘Sonchiriya’ with Manoj Bajpayee and Bhumi Pednekar, ‘Chhichhore’ with Shraddha Kapoor and the posthumously released ‘Dil Bechara’ alongside debutant Sanjana Sanghi.
2. SRIDEVI
The Queen of Hearts, Sridevi’s passing away in February 2018 came as a rude shock to all her fans. The veteran actress, who was only 54, died by drowning in a bathtub in her Dubai hotel room. In a career that spanned five decades, she has won many awards including a National Film Award, a Nandi Award, the Tamil Nadu State Film Award, the Kerala State Film Award, 4 Filmfare Awards, including a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and 3 Filmfare Awards South and even the Padma Shri. Considered a fabulous actress and dancer, her most memorable films include ‘Mr. India’ (1987), ‘Chandni’ (1989), ‘Sadma’ (1983), ‘Nagina’ (1986), ‘Chaalbaaz’ (1989), ‘Lamhe’ (1991), ‘Laadla’ (1994), ‘Judaai’ (1997, English Vinglish (2012) and the 2017 thriller ‘Mom’, for which she was posthumously awarded the National Film Award for Best Actress. Her death remains one of the biggest losses for Indian Cinema.
3. IRRFAN KHAN
The extremely versatile actor’s sudden death last year shocked the nation. He was only 53 and died of a colon infection. In a career that spanned over 30 years, he too earned many accolades including a National Film Award, an Asian Film Award, 6 Filmfare Awards and the prestigious Padma Shri. At the Filmfare awards this year, he was also posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. His best performances include, ‘Maqbool’ (2004), ‘The Namesake’ (2006), ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (2008), ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ (2011), ‘Life of Pi’ (2012), ‘Piku’ (2015), ‘Hindi Medium’ (2017), and his last film appearance in its sequel ‘Angrezi Medium’ (2020) alongside Radhika Madan. One of the few Indian actors to appear in Hollywood movies, his loss is especially unexplainable with regard to the recently flourishing OTT medium.
4. RISHI KAPOOR
Another big cinematic loss of last year was that of the legendary actor Rishi Kapoor. He succumbed to leukaemia at 67 and news of his death came less than 24 hours after Irrfan Khan’s. One of the most charming actors Indian Cinema has seen, he has won 4 Filmfare Awards and a National Film Award. The legend made his debut as a child artist, in his father Raj Kapoor’s film ‘Mera Naam Joker’ in 1970, for which he even won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. His most memorable films include ‘Bobby’ (1973), ‘Khel Khel Mein’ (1975), ‘Kabhi Kabhie’ (1976), ‘Karz’ (1980) and ‘Chandni’ (1989) back in the day and more recently, ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ (2010), ‘Agneepath’ (2012), ‘Kapoor and Sons’ (2016), ‘102 Not Out’ (2018) with superstar Amitabh Bachchan and ‘Mulk’ (2018) alongside Taapsee Pannu. His last film appearance ‘Sharmaji Namkeen’ alongside Juhi Chawla will posthumously release next month on 4th September, his birth anniversary.