Veteran Bollywood actor Viju Khote — who is popularly known for his character Kalia in Sholay — has passed away this morning. Viju Khote has been working in the Hindi film industry since 1964. The most popular dialogues of Viju Khote’s are ‘Sarkar, maine aapka namak khaya hai’ from ‘Sholay’ and ‘Galti se mistake ho gaya’ from ‘Andaaz Apna Apna’.
Besides working in Bollywood, Khote has worked in multiple Marathi movies too. According to reports, Khote was not keeping well for the past few months. Sadly, today, he passed away at his residence in South Mumbai.
Viju Khote has worked in more than 300 movies. He might not be a big star in Bollywood but he had a big name in Marathi cinema. Speaking about his iconic character Kalia in Sholay, Khote told The Times of India in 2015 that he enjoys the love he has got. “It signifies the tremendous popularity of the movie. And that people liked Kaalia as a character,” he said.
Viju Khote and Sholay actor Amjad Khan have worked together in several movies. Speaking about the same, he had said, “Actually I had done a play with him before the movie. The play, To This Night A Dawn, was directed by his brother Imtiaz. After Sholay, I did four-five more films with him. But I don’t remember their names.”
May his soul rest in peace. We offer its condolences to the family of Viju Khote.