Veteran film and theatre actor Shriram Lagoo passed away at his residence in Pune around 8 pm on Tuesday. He was 92 years old and died due to a cardiac arrest. Lagoo is survived by his wife actor Deepa Lagoo, a son, and a daughter. His other son, Tanveer, died at a young age when a stone hurled by someone hit him while he was traveling by train. The last rites of the actor will be performed after his son comes from the United States.
A stalwart in Marathi theatre and cinema and a prolific character artiste in numerous Bollywood movies, Lagoo had worked in over 100 Hindi films, over 40 Marathi movies and Gujarati films and plays. He is remembered for his role as Ganpatrao aka Appasaheb Belvalkar in the famous Marathi play ‘Natasamrat’.
Dr Shriram Lagoo, born in Satara in 1927 was a trained ENT surgeon by profession. He also played an important role in the growth of theatre movement in Maharashtra in post-Independence era alongside Vijay Tendulkar, Vijaya Mehta and Arvind Deshpande.
He debuted as a commercial actor in his 40’s. He tasted commercial success with V Shantaram’s ‘Pinjra’ (1972).
In Bollywood, he is remembered for his memorable roles in films like ‘Ek Din Achanak’, ‘Gharonda’, ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’ and ‘Laawaris’. He played Gopal Krishna Gokhale in Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’.
As the news of Lagoo’s death spread, condolences poured in from the world of theatre, cinema and politics.
Rishi Kapoor tweeted,
Paresh Rawal,
Ashoke Pandit
Prakash Javadekar
May His Soul Rest In Peace.
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