Vinod Khanna dies at 70, was suffering from bladder cancer

Actor Vinod Khanna, once acknowledged as one of Bollywood’s most handsome heroes, passed away at a Mumbai hospital on Thursday at the age of 70. He was suffering from advanced cancer of the bladder.

Officials at the HN Reliance Hospital said he breathed his last at 11.20 am, weeks after he was hospitalised for severe dehydration.

“Doctors and family were expecting a recovery but somehow his condition escalated and he succumbed today afternoon,” a hospital source said.

Millions of Indians had reacted with shock and sympathy after a photograph of a frail and haggard Khanna in the hospital was leaked on social media weeks ago.

Khanna, born in Peshawar in present-day Pakistan, was a sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian from the Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab.