A friendship even death acknowledged: Remembering Vinod Khanna and Feroz Khan's tale of coincidence

Bollywood is known more for the enmity between its stars than the friendship. Still, there are those few long-lasting friendships nobody will be able to forget for a very long time. Often lost and buried under numerous stories of friends turned enemies, enemies turned friends, and broken relationships, they exist waiting to be rediscovered. 

Vinod Khanna and Feroz Khan were two Bollywood actors who shared a very strong bond. They were more than just colleagues, who worked together on multiple friends. They were friends to the very end. Interestingly, the two died on the same date 27th April and both of Cancer. It's a friendship few get to boast of. 

A filmy friendship that lasted a lifetime

Forget Bollywood, even for any two friends it's hard to find the kind of longevity and deep friendship that Vinod Khanna and Feroz Khan shared. The two were among the notable actors between the 60s and 90s. Vinod and Feroz had worked some major Bollywood hits like Qurbani in 1980 and Dayavan in 1988.

The first film the two ever acted in was Shankar Shambu in 1976, where Feroz played Shankar and Vinod played Shambhu. That's when their friendship began. In 1982 after Qurbani, Vinod had taken a break from films for nearly 5 years when he became a follower of the controversial spiritual leader Osho Rajneesh. It was in 1988, that Vinod Khanna was seen again alongside Feroz Khan in Dayavan which was a remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Nayakan, directed by Feroz this was Vinod's comeback hit. 

Incidentally, it was on 27th April 2009 that Feroz Khan passed away at the age of 69 succumbing to lung cancer in Bengaluru. Before, the actor died, Vinod Khanna and Dharmendra had visited the hospital to see Feroz Khan and the two friends had shared an emotional moment. 

In 2017, 8 years later on 27th April, Vinod Khanna died of bladder cancer at the age of 70. When he died, Feroz Khan's son Fardeen had shared some touching words about their friendship, "I just knew Vinod uncle as one of my father's best friends and I used to see them together all the time as they did three films together. There was always great warmth between them. I never saw him a star but as my father's best friend because I was so young then." 

It's not every day that you find to friends who share a close bond and take an active interest in each other's wellbeing. Even in their absence, stars like Rishi Kapoor recalled the intriguing coincidence of their death date. 

Unfortunately, the two fine actors are not around to enjoy their friendship but their legacy lives on as an example.