Veteran Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna had roots in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Veteran Indian actor Vinod Khanna, who died on Thursday at the age of 70 in Mumbai due to protracted illness, had roots in Peshawar.

"Late Vinod Khanna was the son of Mehr Chand Khanna, a prominent businessman and former minister in Congress party.

He was born in Peshawar on October 6, 1946 at Sardar area in Cantonment jurisdiction," Muhammad Ibrahim Zia, a known film historian from Peshawar said.

A local media agency delegation went to inquire after the health of the top Indian film industry legend, Dilip Kumar, who also belonged to Peshawar they had a meeting with Vinod Khanna in New Delhi, who was very happy over reunion with people of his birth place(Peshawar).

Mehr Chand Khanna, father of Vinod Khanna, was a well off person of Peshawar and had migrated to India in 1947. At the time of migration, Vinod Khanna was an infant, but he had love for his birth city.

In the late 1990s during a function held in Dubai, Vinod Khanna had announced on the stage with pride that he was a 'Peshawari.

The ancestral home of Vinod Khanna was intact and presently in use of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chapter of APWA (All Pakistan Women's Association).

During the meeting with Vinod Khanna,the delegation presented him gifts including 'Peshawar Chappal' (sandals) and traditional dress, which he accepted very happily.

They also presented a copy of his book, Peshawar Key Funkar (Artists of Peshawar), to the legend star.

The book gives detailed history of big screen actors who belonged to Peshawar and worked in different film industries during the last 100 years.

Shakeel Waheedullah, General Secretary Cultural Heritage Council KP, was also part of the delegation which met the Indian actor in 2014. "During his autograph, Vinod Khanna had extended his good wishes to people of Peshawar and expressed desire to visit his ancestral city," he stated.

'Vinod wanted to visit Peshawar to see his home and area where his parents and forefathers used to dwell', Shakeed added.

He said he had also sent a request at official level for his visit to Pakistan, especially Peshawar, but his visit was not finalised.

Shakeel said the Cultural Heritage Council would soon hold a reference in memory of late Vinod Khanna to pay homage and to apprise the people of Peshawar that the Indian film legend belonged to their city.

Vinod Khanna started his film carrier in 1968 and performed in more than 140 films.

His best performance was in films like `Mere Apne, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Imtihaan, Inkaar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Qurbani, Dayavaan and Jurm.

He also showed his debut in politics and was elected as memberof parliament from Gurdaspur in 1997 on Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) ticket.

In July 2002, he was made Union Minister for Culture and Tourism.

A recent picture of Vinod Khanna, showing him seriously ill, left his fans in shock.

He was suffering from advanced bladder carcinoma and died on Thursday.