Veteran actor Chandrashekhar, who is best known for playing Arya Sumant in the show Ramayan, is no more. The actor-producer-director, who also served as President of the Cine Artistes Association (CINTAA) from 1985 to 1996, was 97 at the time of his death.
Anil Gaikwad from CINTAA confirmed the demise of the actor. He informed all that the senior actor passed away at 7 am this morning. The actor’s son revealed the last rites of the actor will be held later today.
Chandrashekar’s son, professor Ashok Chandra Shekhar told ETimes that his father passed away early this morning. He said, “Daddy passed away in sleep. He had no issues with his health. He was in the hospital for a day, last Thursday. We brought him back home and had kept all facilities including oxygen at our disposal if the need would arise.”
Talking about the last hours of the actor, his son said, “He was okay last night. The end was peaceful. We plan to perform the last rites at Pawan Hans in Vile Parle today at 4 pm.”
Remembering the veteran actor, Joint Secretary at CINTAA, Amit Behl told the publication, “It is a big loss. Chandrashekhar sir, along with Asha Parekh, Mithunda, Amrish Puri, Amjad Khan and Ram Mohan, was instrumental in getting the land from the government where our new building is now coming up. We were so looking forward to having his presence at the inauguration, but fate had other plans.”
Chandrashekhar appeared in around 250 films. He made his debut as a hero with Surang (1953). He also essayed several supporting characters in films like Gateway of India, Fashion (1957), Barsaat Ki Raat (1960), and others. He donned the hat of a producer, director and actor for his hit musical film Cha Cha Cha (1964), which starred Helen in a lead role.
He was also the maternal grandfather of Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka actor Shakti Arora.
