Veteran actor Pradeep Rawat, best known for his role in Ghajini, passed away on August 4 at the age of 74 after a prolonged battle with cancer. His funeral was held on August 5, where family, friends, and members of the film fraternity gathered to pay their final respects. Rawat’s co-actors from Lagaan, including Aamir Khan and director Ashutosh Gowariker, were present during the cremation ceremony. Bollywood superstar Salman Khan took to social media to remember his former co-star and express his condolences.
Salman Khan took to Instagram to share a nostalgic photo with his Baaghi co-star Pradeep Rawat. Remembering the late actor, Khan captioned the throwback picture, which read, “Shared many good moments with you, brother… May you rest in peace.”
Salman Khan and veteran actor Pradeep Rawat worked together in several projects, including the 1990 romantic action drama Baaghi: A Rebel for Love, in which Khan played Saajan Sood and Rawat played Buddha. They also shared screen space in other films like Patthar Ke Phool and Tiger Zinda Hai.
On August 5, several celebrities came to mourn the death of Pradeep Rawat, who is survived by his wife, Kalyani Rawat, and their son, Vikramaditya Rawat. Paying tribute to his Lagaan and Ghajini co-star, Aamir Khan also marked his presence at the funeral ceremony of the late actor, along with filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker. Khan met Pradeep’s family members and offered his heartfelt condolences.
In a throwback interview with Siddharth Kannan two years ago, Pradeep Rawat spoke about how he convinced Ghajini director AR Murugadoss to cast Amir Khan for the lead role over Salman Khan. He stated, “Salman is short-tempered, so I felt he would have issues with AR Murugadoss. But I have known Aamir for 25 years. I have never seen him scream at anyone. He never uses foul language. That’s why I approached Aamir for the role.”
Praising Aamir Khan, Rawat recalled, “Aamir is very clever, though. He kept on dilly-dallying, but ultimately he did the film because he couldn’t say ‘no’ to me.” (Agencies)
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