Bollywood actor Pradeep Rawat, known for his work in films like Lagaan and Ghajini, passed away on Tuesday night. The actor was 74 years at the time of his demise.

Born in Jabalpur on January 21, 1952, Pradeep began his acting career nearly 42 years ago with the film Kanoon Kya Karega (1984). Over next few years, Pradeep made a place for himself in the industry with films like Kaash (1987), Agneepath (1990), Baaghi (1990) and Koyla (1997). Pradeep also attained recognition with the popular 80s TV series Mahabharat, where he played the role of Ashwatthama. 

Most notably, Pradeep Rawat played the antagonist in the 2008 film Ghajini, the Aamir Khan starrer action-drama which was an official remake of a Tamil film of the same name, where too he played the villain. Also marking Asin’s Hindi debut, Ghajini was a massive hit in both languages and lent great popularity to Pradeep Rawat in Hindi and Tamil industries.

His other more popular roles too incidentally were in Aamir Khan films like Sarfarosh (1999) and Lagaan (2001), where he played the roles of Sultan and Deva respectively. 

However, despite Ghajini’s massive popularity, Pradeep Rawat began increasingly working more in Tamil and Telugu films in the following years with Oy! (2009), Rebel (2012) and Mahesh Babu-starrer 1: Nenokkadine (2014) being some of his widely-seen films. 

Pradeep was particularly active in Telugu cinema in past few years, with this year’s Gaayapadda Simham being his last release. His last major appearance in a Hindi film was in Vicky Kaushal led Chhaava (2025). Overall, in his career, Pradeep acted in more than 140 films across the industries.