Veteran Bollywood actor Pradeep Rawat, who also worked in several South Indian films including superhits like Lagaan and Ghajini with legendary actor Aamir Khan, breathed his last in Mumbai on 4 August 2026 at the age of 74 after battling blood cancer.
Pradeep Ram Singh Rawat born on 21 January 1952 in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, began his career on television and first came into the limelight with his portrayal of Ashwatthama in B.R. Chopra’s iconic series Mahabharat.
He also appeared in DD National’s Chandrakanta before making his Hindi film debut with Subhash Ghai’s Meri Jung in 1985.
Over a career spanning from 1983 to 2026, Rawat acted in more than 27 films and TV shows across Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Bhojpuri and Nepali cinema.
He was introduced to Telugu films with Sye in 2004, for which he won the Filmfare Best Villain Award, Nandi Award and Santosham Award. In Tamil he gained recognition with a double role in Ghajini in 2005, and later reprised the same menacing character ‘Ghajini Dharmatma’ in the Hindi remake Ghajini in 2008 opposite Aamir Khan.
He was also seen with Aamir in the Oscar-nominated Lagaan.
Among his other notable Hindi films are Agneepath, Baaghi, Koyla, Sarfarosh, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy and Grand Masti. He debuted in Kannada with Parodi, in Malayalam with China Town, in Bengali with Hero 420 and in Bhojpuri with Crack Fighter.
Before acting, he worked for some time as a banker at UCO Bank in Jabalpur. He is survived by his wife Kalyani Rawat and two sons. With his powerful screen presence and distinctive voice, Pradeep Rawat carved a niche as one of Indian cinema’s most memorable villains, and his untimely demise has indeed left a vacuum in the industry.
