Veteran actor Feroz Khan passed away in Bangalore early this morning. He had been battling cancer for over a year and was in hospital in Mumbai until Sunday, when he was taken to Bangalore where he had a horse farm.

Born of an Afghan father and Iranian mother in 1939, Khan arrived in Mumbai in the late 1950s, and played the second lead in his first Hindi film — the Sunil Dutt-Waheeda Rehman starrer Didi, in 1960. His first success — Oonche Log, starring Ashok Kumar and Raj Kumar — came five years later, but it was only after the 1969 blockbuster Aadmi Aur Insaan, in which he played the sacrificing lover, that Khan became a star.

Khan made his debut as a director in 1972 with Apradh, a film that he also produced under the banner of F K Films. Three years later, his second film Dharmatma, based loosely on the Hollywood blockbuster Godfather, catapulted Khan into the big league.

Khan gave the impression of a man who lived life on his own terms. Yet, friends and acquaintances in the industry recognised a softer, mellow side to the flamboyant and fiercely independent actor. Anil Kapoor, who acted in his racy Jaanbaaz (1986) and has also worked with him in his last film Welcome, says Khan was a true Pathan: “Tough on the outside, but very generous and true to his friends till his last breath. If he was fond of you, he’d become an innocent child with you.”

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