AP, NEW DELHI :
Top Indian actor Rishi Kapoor, a scion of Bollywood’s most famous Kapoor family, has died. He was 67 and had leukemia.
India’s Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan tweeted on Thursday “Rishi Kapoor gone….Just passed away… I am destroyed.”
Kapoor was hospitalized in Mumbai on Wednesday and died on Thursday, according to a family statement.
He returned to India last September after undergoing treatment in the United States for almost a year. He was hospitalized twice in February.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Kapoor was a powerhouse of talent. “I will always recall our interactions, even on social media. He was passionate about films and India’s progress.”
His father Raj Kapoor and grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor were doyens of Bollywood, the vast Hindi-language film industry based in the western coastal city of Mumbai.
He received the National Film Award for his debut role as a child artist in his father’s 1970 film “Mera Naam Joker.” He acted in more than 90 films.
His wife, Nitu Singh, co-starred in several of his films. His son Ranbir Kapoor is a current top Bollywood actor.
