Bollywood has lost one of its most loved faces, Govardhan Asrani. The veteran actor passed away on Monday, October 20, 2025, at the age of 84. His last rites were performed at Santacruz Crematorium the same day. The news left the nation in grief, with many tributes pouring in on social media.Filmmaker Priyadarshan, who worked with Asrani in hits like ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘Hulchul’, ‘Garam Masala’, and ‘Bhagam Bhag’, has shared his grief and fond memories of working with the legendary late actor.
Priyadarshan shared memories of films together
Priyadarshan spoke about the long-standing bond he shared with Asrani and how the veteran actor influenced his work. He recalled how much he admired him from the early days of his career. He said,“I did maximum films with Asrani sir. I realised that I did more films with him than Hrishi da (Hrishikesh Mukherjee) did with him. Right from my second film in Hindi which was ‘Gardish’, he has worked with me. I’ve been admiring him ever since the time I used to watch films during my college days. He was a man who never exhibited buffoonery but he always made people laugh. I will never call him a comedian. He was a great actor who played diverse roles. In ‘Koshish’, he played the villain. In ‘Abhimaan’, he scored against Amitabh Bachchan so well. He was a complete actor.”
Asrani was funnier off-camera often
Priyadarshan also remembered Asrani’s charm off camera, describing how his presence would light up the set.“He was the best! He’s more humorous off-camera than on-camera. We all used to sit around him to listen to his old stories about the industry. He was such a wonderful narrator and would make us laugh like anything! Whenever Asrani sir would sit, other actors would huddle around him. And they would laugh a lot,” Priyadarshan said.
Veteran actor completed last shots for film
Asrani continued working with dedication till the very end, completing most of his portions for Priyadarshan’s upcoming film ‘Haiwaan’. Priyadarshan expressed how lucky he felt to have captured his last take, “I’m blessed that I shot his last take. It happened about five-six days back. That’s why I was very shocked when I heard the news yesterday. I’ve just one small scene left with him in ‘Haiwaan’. It just has one dialogue by him. We’ll manage when we get down to filming it. All other scenes featuring him have been shot.”The filmmaker further added, “He had a bad back pain. So, we used to give him a chair. We would remove it only when the cameras would start rolling. He had told me that he went to Indore and came back. The road was bad and he couldn’t move his legs. But he still came and finished the work.”
Akshay Kumar felt Asrani was in depression
Talking about Asrani’s influence on him, Priyadarshan said, “Akshay Kumar called me twice. He said that he feels he’s in depression as he was working with Asrani sir for the past 40-45 days in two films. He would give Akshay a lot of advice.”
Akshay Kumar’s tribute to Asrani
Akshay Kumar also shared his grief on X (formerly Twitter), “Speechless with grief at the passing of Asrani ji. We had just shared the warmest of hugs just a week back at the shoot of ‘Haiwaan’. Bahot pyare insaan the…he had the most legendary comic timing. From all my cult films ‘Hera Pheri’ to ‘Bhagam Bhag’ to ‘De Dana Dan’, ‘Welcome’ and now our unreleased ‘Bhoot Bangla’ and ‘Haiwaan’…I had worked and learned so much from him. What an absolute loss to our industry. God bless you Asrani Sir, for giving us a million reasons to laugh. Om Shanti.”
