Raj Kanwar bid final farewell

Tuscaloosa Times (IANS) Sunday 5th February, 2012

The last rites of Bollywood filmmaker Raj Kanwar were performed here Sunday and his family and a few B-town celebrities came to bid him a final farewell at the Oshiwara cremation ground, close to his residence.

Kanwar died Feb 3 in Singapore and his body was bought flown down Saturday night. He was 53. He is survived by his wife and two sons -- Karan (20) and Abhay (16).

The filmmaker has been suffering from a kidney ailment from the past one year and had gone to Singapore for an organ transplant, but passed away before the surgery.

From Bollywood, celebrities like Abbas-Mustan, Raza Murad, Sajid Nadiadwala, Satish Kaushik, Poonam Sinha and Luv Sinha were present for his last rites.

Farah Khan, who also stays in the same area, said that his death is a "great loss to the film industry". "I worked with him in 'Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega'. He was a very chilled out director. We all will miss him," she added.

Alka Yagnik said: "I have sung in many of his films. It's a great loss. My heartiest condolence to his family members."

His family will organise Choutha Tuesday in Santacruz.

Kanwar was the one who gave Shah Rukh and Priyanka Chopra their first big breaks in the film industry with "Deewana" and "Andaaz" respectively. He also directed "Judaai", "Jeet", "Badal" and "Laadla". His last film was "Sadiyaan" starring Rishi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Rekha.