‘Feroz Khan kept kept his cancer a secret on Welcome set, didn’t let anyone know,’ recalls Anees Bazmee | Bollywood News

Feroz Khan, who was one of the most popular Hindi films actors in the 1970s and 1980s, did not appear in many movies in his later years. But he chose to appear for a short role in Anees Bazmee’s 2007 film Welcome, creating one of his most memorable characters. In a recent interview, Bazmee revealed that Feroz Khan was probably aware of his terminal illness by that point, but did not let anyone know about it. Feroz passed away after fighting against lung cancer in 2009. Anees shared that while Feroz wasn’t too enthusiastic about working in Welcome, he eventually agreed.

In a chat with Lehren Retro, Anees shared that Feroz invited him for dinner after watching No Entry, which also starred his son Fardeen Khan. “I was always his fan. I had seen all his films. I remembered so many of his dialogues and he was shocked. He said ‘Anees, you remember all of this?’ I told him that you have done such great work and we are such big fans. So it was a great friendly atmosphere,” he recalled.

Anees then spoke about casting him in the role of RDX in Welcome, and said, “I thought who could be the boss of Uday Shetty and Majnu Shetty but Feroz Khan? But he wasn’t working at that time. I believe he had some hint about his illness then. He was just saying he doesn’t want to do it, making excuses but I was adamant that you have to do it. And somehow he agreed. That role wasn’t too big. Those were just four scenes and climax. The role got big because of his persona.”

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Anees shared that he has “great memories of working with” Feroz Khan and added that the actor never made anyone feel like he wasn’t feeling his best. “He didn’t make me realise that he isn’t well. It’s not like he wasn’t in pain but he kept his illness to himself and he did not let anyone know about it on the set,” he shared.

Soon after Welcome, Feroz Khan passed away in 2009 at the age of 69. The film also starred Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal among others.

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