Bollywood pays homage to a friend

Ghai,who was a close friend of the minister said,“He admired my work and my achievements. That is the reason he supported my vision of opening the world class film school. I feel sad he was misunderstood for many of his good acts. He loved his state and its progress.”

Ghai also praised Deshmukh’s leadership. “He was an able leader and a good human being. He cared a lot for the deprived and had a long-term vision to develop Maharashtra. Although he was in Delhi,his heart was always in Mumbai.”

Ghai’s association with Deshmukh goes a long way and over the years they developed a good friendship. Ghai,however,recalled how Vilasrao stayed away from all Bollywood affairs. “He hardly knew in which films his son was working. He never ever talked to him about his career.”

One of the industry veterans,requesting anonymity,said that Deshmukh in his younger days had cherished a dream of being an actor in Bollywood and was often seen imitating actor Shatrughan Sinha who he resembled quite a bit.

Shah Rukh Khan,a friend of Riteish expressed grief over the demise of Vilasrao. “I am feeling very sorry. I have known Vilasrao Deshmukhji for years now. Riteish is a close friend and I spoke to him. It’s unfortunate and much unexpected. He was a wonderful gentleman. I pay my respect to the family. I am deeply disturbed,” he said.

Most of Bollywood knew him as Riteish’s father and did not interact much with him. Filmmakers Milap Zaveri and Farah Khan,although did not know him well,expressed grief at his sudden demise and expressed love and support for Riteish and his wife Genelia.

Bollywood also paid their respects to the late minister and his bereaved family on Twitter.

Akshay Kumar who has co-starred Riteish in quite a few movies tweeted, “The man who had Mumbai’s Shanghai dream is no more. Rest in peace Vilasrao Deshmukhji,a visionary and the father of my dear friend Riteish. May God give you strength.”

Bipasha Basu,Siddharth,Dia Mirza,Karan Johar and Nikhil Advani also paid homage to Deshmukh.