Vinod Khanna, Indian Actor, politician and priest (b. 1946)
Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer, director and politician who is best known for his work in Hindi films. He was the recipient of two Filmfare awards. He was the MP from the Gurdaspur constituency between 1998–2009 and 2014–2017. In July 2002, Khanna became the minister for Culture and Tourism in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet. Six months later, he became the Minister of State for External Affairs. Khanna was known to be one of the highest-paid stars of his times, along with Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan.After making his film debut in 1968, Khanna first acted in supporting and antagonistic roles; as an angry young man in the movie Mere Apne, as the main villain in the highly successful crime drama Mera Gaon Mera Desh, and as the military officer turned fugitive in the critically acclaimed movie Achanak, which was a film based on the events of K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra. Khanna played lead roles in many films and is best remembered for his performances in Kuchhe Dhaage, Gaddaar, Imtihaan, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Inkaar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Rajput, The Burning Train, Qurbani, Kudrat, Parvarish, Khoon Pasina, Dayavan, Chandni and Jurm.In 1982, at the peak of his film career, Khanna temporarily took a break from the film industry to follow his spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh. After a 5-year hiatus, he returned to the Hindi film industry with two hit films – Insaaf and Satyamev Jayate.Khanna has been posthumously awarded India's highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2018 by the Government of India at 65th National Film Awards.