Bollywood actor Rajesh Vivek, best known for his roles in Lagaan and Swades, died due to a heart attack in Hyderabad on Thursday. He was 66. “Rajesh passed away around 3pm in Hyderabad due to a heart attack. He was shooting there for a south Indian film. It is very shocking news,” Vivek’s friend Vishnu Sharma said in Mumbai on Thursday night. “We were close friends. We knew each other for last 40 years. He was fine. It was not that he was unwell or anything like that,” he said.

Vivek was first introduced by Shyam Benegal in his film Junoon (1978). Basically a theatre actor, he had also acted in popular television series Mahabharata, Bharat Ek Khoj and in Aghori. He made his mark as a villain in the beginning with films like Veerana and Joshilay, often playing roles of henchman, but later on he started doing comic or supporting roles. Some of his latest films include Bunty Aur Babli, Bhoot Unkle, What is Your Rashee, Agnipath, Son of Sardaar, “Dishkiyaaun. He had also played the role of a dreaded dacoit in Bandit Queen.