Several celebrities paid tributes to veteran actor Pankaj Dheer at a prayer meet organised in his memory at ISKCON Temple in Juhu, Mumbai. Members of the film fraternity, including Abhishek Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood, Zayed Khan, Suresh Oberoi, Rajat Bedi, and Ramesh Taurani, gathered on Friday evening to offer condolences to the bereaved family, including Pankaj Dheer’s son, Nikitin Dheer.
Celebs attend Pankaj Dheer’s prayer meet
Ashoke Pandit, Baba Azmi, Jaaved Jaaferi, Esha Deol, Firoz Khan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Mukesh Khanna, Poonam Dhillon, Puneet Issar, Raj Kundra, Ranjeet, Rohit Shetty, Sharad Saxena, Tanvi Azmi, Upasana Singh, and Urvashi Dholakia also attended the prayer meet.
Earlier, actor Amit Behl spoke about Pankaj to news agency ANI. “He was ailing about three years ago, but he had recovered. He was back to work. I spoke to him about four months ago, and he was sounding fine. But this is shocking, really shocking for all of us. He was ailing, but he had recovered, lost weight, and was working, you know, in a serial or something else. I spoke to him about three or four months ago, and he was sounding fine. So it’s quite a shock to me. It’s really sad,” Amit told ANI.
About Pankaj’s death
Pankaj, best known for his role as Karna in the iconic television series Mahabharat and King Shivdutt in the fantasy drama Chandrakanta, died on October 15 after a prolonged battle with cancer. He was 68. Pankaj’s last rites were held at the Pawan Hans crematorium on Wednesday evening. Celebrities such as Salman Khan, Sidharth Malhotra, Arbaaz Khan, Puneet Issar, and Mika Singh, among others, paid their last respects at the crematorium. Pankaj is survived by his wife Anita Dheer and son Nikitin, who is also an actor.
More about Pankaj’s career
Pankaj, who hailed from Punjab, started out as an actor in the 1980s, featuring in minor roles in many movies. He also starred in many movies such as Sadak, Sanam Bewafa and Aashik Awara. Some of his notable movies also include Bobby Deol’s Soldier, Shah Rukh Khan’s Baadshah, Akshay Kumar’s Andaz and Ajay Devgn’s Zameen and Tarzan. In the late 2000s, Pankaj appeared in many daily soaps such as Teen Bahuraaniyaan, Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat and Sasural Simar Ka.
