Pankaj Dheer prayer meet: Abhishek Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty and other stars pay tribute

Veteran actor Pankaj Dheer breathed his last on Oct 15, reportedly after his secret battle with cancer. He was 68 years old. Dheer, a well-known actor in the Indian film industry, is known for playing the role of Karan in BR Chopra's Mahabharat.

Two days after the actor's final rites, a prayer meet was held at the Mandapam Hall, ISKCON Temple, Juhu, Mumbai. To pay their last respects to the late actor, several renowned actors from the industry showed up.

Pankaj Dheer prayer meet

A-listers from the film industry, who have either worked with or known the actor, showed up to pay their respect and offer condolences to the bereaved family, including Pankaj Dheer's son, Nikitin.

Celebrities such as Shilpa Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Abhishek Bachchan, Ramesh Taurani, Sonu Sood, Zayed Khan, Suresh Oberoi and Rajat Bedi.

Aditya Pancholi, Ashok Dubey, Deepak Parashar, Jaaved Jaaferi, Esha Deol, Firoz Khan (Arjun), Harish Bhimani, Madhur Bhandarkar, Mukesh Chhabra, Mukesh Khanna, Mukesh Rishi, Poonam Dhillon, Puneet Issar, Tej Sapru, Upasana Singh, and Urvashi Dholakia were also present at the prayer meet.

Pankaj's last rites were held at the Pawan Hans crematorium on Wednesday (Oct 15) evening. Celebrities such as Salman Khan, Sidharth Malhotra, and Arbaaz Khan, among others, attended the funeral.

Pankaj Dheer's cause of death

Pankaj Dheer's family has not shared any official statement on the actor's death yet. But as per reports and the actor's close friends, he was not well for a very long period of time, and has gone through a major operation after his cancer relapsed. Exactly what kind of cancer the actor was suffering from is not known yet.

Talking about Dheer's health, actor Amit Behl told ANI, "He was ailing about three years ago, but he had recovered. He was back to work. I spoke to him about four months ago, and he was sounding fine. But this is shocking, really shocking for all of us. He was ailing, but he had recovered, lost weight, and was working, you know, in a serial or something else. I spoke to him about three or four months ago, and he was sounding fine. So it's quite a shock to me. It's really sad.''