Amitabh Bachchan pays tribute to Vikram Gokhale, Tabassum: Artists of huge merit leave us day by day

Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday said the stage is desolated by the absence of artists of huge merit like Vikram Gokhale and Tabassum.

Gokhale, known for several Marathi and Hindi films including the Bachchan-starrer “Agneepath” (1990), passed away on Saturday due to multi-organ failure at a Pune-based hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He was 77.

Tabassum, known for her work as a child artiste in several Hindi classics such as “Baiju Bawra” and “Mughal-e-Azam”, and also as host of popular Doordarshan talk show “Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan”, died last week following cardiac arrest. She was 78.

Bachchan took to his blog to remember Gokhale and Tabassum.

“The days are lined with sadness.. friends and colleagues.. artists of huge merit, leave us day by day.. and we listen, see and pray.. Tabassum .. Vikram Gokhle and some dear ones that are close and known ..

“They came to us in our lives.. they played their parts and left the stage empty forlorn and desolate by their absence .. (sic),” the veteran star wrote on his blog.

After “Agneepath”, Bachchan and Gokhale also co-starred in the 1992 film “Khuda Gawah”. In 2020, Bachchan played himself in the Marathi film “AB Ani CD” starring Gokhale. The duo played childhood friends in the Milind Lele directorial.

In a previous blog post, Bachchan had described Tabassum as an “effervescent” all-rounder.

“.. they all leave us one by one .. and it is beyond comprehension .. you only recollect the times of their presence and life before the eyes and the mind .. and they ever remain an image of the time .. unchanged, unfettered and in the freedom of free .. and then they leave , and it cannot be fathomed ..” he had written.