Vinod Khanna’s death anniversary: Lesser known facts about the Hindi cinema’s heartthrob

It's been four years since Vinod Khanna passed away in 2017. The actor, who ruled cinema for decades, passed away on April 27, 2017. Remembering the iconic star, we share some lesser known facts about the 'original hearththrob' Vinod Khanna with some rare photos of the actor. Scroll down:

Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan were good friends. In fact, they shared a unique friendship. They survived innumerable ups and downs, fame and failures. The old friends go back to a time when they were strugglers sharing lunch and midnight drives to Juhu beach and sneaking out to hip discos in the anonymity of their youth. (Photo: Express Archive)

Vinod Khanna met Sunil Dutt in 1969. Dutt had cast the handsome Khanna as an antagonist in Man Ka Meet, a launchpad for his brother Som Dutt as a leading man. Two years and a slew of anti-heroic roles later, Khanna made his first big splash with Raj Khosla’s Mera Gaon Mera Desh. (Photo: Express Archive)

Did you know that Vinod Khanna was cast in Qurbani after the film was rejected by Amitabh Bachchan? The film, which also starred veteran late actor Feroz Khan, went onto become the highest-grossing film of 1980. (Photo: Express Archive)

In 1980s, when Vinod Khanna was as big a star and crowd pleaser as Amitabh Bachchan, he packed his bags to join Osho to explore spirituality. (Photo: Express Archive)

In an interview, Vinod Khanna shared that at Osho’s Rajneeshpuram, he "cleaned the toilets, I did the dishes, and his clothes were tried out on me because we were, physically, of the same stature." (Photo: Express Archive)

After a five-year break from work, Vinod Khanna made his comeback to films and delivered two superhits - Insaaf and Satyamev Jayate. His last film was Rohit Shetty's Dilwale. (Photo: Express Archive)