Subhash K Jha (DNA; April 28, 2017)

The passing of actor Vinod Khanna has hit his friend Shatrughan Sinha hard. He tells us, “I am in a state of shock. I am unable to express myself properly. Vinod was much more than a dear co-star. He was a colleague and friend.”

He visited Vinod at the hospital, a few days ago, but the ailing actor was fast asleep. Says Shatru, “I met his brother and three sons and spent time with them.”

Vinod and Shatru go back a long way. Shotgun charts out their B-Town journey. “Though Vinod was senior to me, our careers were uncannily similar and on a similar track: villain, then hero, then politician for the BJP... We made all the transitions together. We did one of our earliest and most important films together Gulzar’s Mere Apne, where we were pitched as friends and enemies. I was reunited with Vinod for a buddy film called Do Yaar and then we did Bombay 405 Miles and many other films together. I can’t remember the names of all of them. But I do remember that it was always a great pleasure working with Vinod. There was never a sense of competitiveness, rivalry or one-upmanship between us,” says Sinha.

“My heart reaches out to his family. He was a family man first, career came second,” concludes the actor.