Mumbai, Oct 7: Veteran actor Arun Bali, best known for his work on TV show “Swabhimaan” and blockbuster hit “3 Idiots”, died on Friday morning at his residence in suburban Mumbai. He was 79.
Bali’s son Ankush said his father was suffering with Myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease caused by communication failure between nerves and muscles, for which he was admitted to a hospital early this year.
Ankush said his father was responding well to the treatment but passed away at around 4.30 am.
“My father left us. He was suffering from Myasthenia gravis. He had mood swings for two-three days. He told the caretaker he wanted to go to the washroom and after coming out he told him he wanted to sit down and he never got up then,” he told PTI.
Bali made his acting debut with noted filmmaker Lekh Tandon’s TV show “Doosra Keval” as superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s uncle and went on to work in TV shows such as period drama “Chanakya”, “Swabhimaan”, “Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand”, “Kumkum – Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan”, and “P.O.W. – Bandi Yuddh Ke”.
Some of his popular films include “Saugandh”, “Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman”, “Khalnayak”, “Satya”, “Hey Ram”, “Lage Raho Munna Bhai”, “3 Idiots”, “Ready”, “Barfi”, “Manmarziyaan”, “Kedarnath”, “Samrat Prithviraj”, and “Laal Singh Chaddha”.
His film “Goodbye”, also featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Rashmika Mandanna, released on Friday.
Bali is survived by a son and three daughters. His last rites will be performed on Saturday.
From the film fraternity, actors Neena Gupta, Abhishek Bachchan, filmmaker Nikkhil Advani and producer Ashoke Pandit condoled Bali’s death.
Gupta, who features alongside Bali in “Goodbye”, paid a tribute to the veteran actor on Instagram.
“Goodbye #ArunBali My first day of shoot on the ‘Parampara’ series set years ago with Arun Bali. So glad we got to shoot recently for ‘Goodbye’,” the actor wrote.
Abhishek Bachchan remembered Bali as a “warm and loving” actor.
“Had the pleasure to share screen space with him on several film. My condolences to his family. Om shanti,” he tweeted.
Advani wrote, “Terrible sad news about the passing of Arun Bali sir. Had the wonderful fortune of working with him in #POWBandiYuddhKe Always a smile on his calm and peaceful face. #RIP #ArunBali”
Pandit said he is saddened by Bali’s demise.
“Sad to know about the demise of veteran actor and a great human being #ArunBali ji who was not keeping well for some time. My heartfelt condolences to his family and near ones. A great loss to the TV and film industry,” he posted on Twitter. (PTI)
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