Bollywood actor Asif Basra allegedly committed suicide on Thursday at his palatial rented residence in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.
The 53-year-old actor committed suicide by hanging himself with a leash of his pet dog around 12-12.30 on Thursday, Superintendent of Police Vimukt Ranjan told the mediapersons.
No suicide note has been recovered, he added.
As per the police, just before the alleged suicide, the “Jab We Met” actor had returned from a stroll in the locality along with his dog. The actor was staying in the town for nearly four years.
Basra is known for his roles in films like “Black Friday”, “Parzania”, “Jab We Met” and “Kai Po Che”, among many others. He played the father of Emraan Hashmi’s Shoaib Khan in Milan Luthria’s “Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai” (2010).
His most recent outing was in Amazon Prime Video’s smash-hit series “Paatal Lok”.
He was last seen in the web series Hostages, which released earlier this year.
The news of the sudden death of the character actor, which comes months after Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging at his residence in Mumbai on June 14, led to shock in the industry with several of his colleagues expressing their grief.
“What? This is too shocking!! Shot with him just before Lockdown!!! Oh My God!!!” tweeted actor Manoj Bajpayee.
Director Hansal Mehta was equally stunned. “Asif Basra! Can’t be true… This is just very, very sad.”
Among the others who condoled his death were directors Onir and Rahul Dholakia.
“In shock. Can’t believe that we have lost him. #asifbasra Used to meet him so often at the park jogging. He would tell me not to jog sideways,I might loose balance and hurt myself,” Onir tweeted.
Dholakia, who directed Basra in the National Award winner “Parzania” and in the Sanjay Dutt-starrer “Lamhaa”, said Basra was a “wonderful actor and a jovial fellow”.
“I mean why would he?? Very Sad – had directed him in Parzania (Chagan), in Lamhaa ( the Darzee ) and also in society… Very sad to hear about his passing !! #asifbasra Hope you are at peace,” he added.
Casting director Mukesh Chhabra tweeted, “This can’t be true Asif Bhai, we have done so much work together from ‘Kai Po Che’ to ‘Hostages 2’. I can not believe this! Whatttt is happening??????????? #asifbasra”.
Basra’s sudden death is the latest blow for the industry, struggling to get back on its feet after the lockdown that came into effect in March to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Friday, 13 November 2020 | PNS | Shimla
