Acting Guru Roshan Taneja passes away at 87

Roshan Taneja. Picture Courtesy: Twitter/Atanu Ghosh

Acting guru, Roshan Taneja has trained the bigwigs of the Hindi film industry, who proved to be versatile in their acting performance onscreen and theatres.

Roshan Taneja, who trained actors like Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Jaya Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, and Shatrughan Sinha breathed his last on Friday morning. Taneja was 87, informed one of his family members. The cremation will be held at 4.30 p.m. on Saturday at the electric crematorium in Santacruz West, Mumbai.

"My father passed away last night (Friday) at 9.30 p.m. in his sleep at home after a prolonged illness," the acting guru's son Rohit Taneja told IANS on Saturday morning. Roshan Taneja is survived by his wife Mithika Taneja and sons Rohit Taneja and Rahul Taneja.

Many of his students took to their Twitter accounts to offer condolences. Shabana Azmi paid condolences to the Taneja family and tweeted: "Late last night came to the sad news that Roshan Taneja passed away. He was my Guru at FTII and the only person whose feet I touched. I was privileged to be trained in acting by him."

"A very sad day for me. My guru Roshan Taneja expired yesterday. I owe my career to him. Rest in peace," wrote actor Rakesh Bedi, who has done several films and television shows.

National Award-winning filmmaker Atanu Ghosh tweeted: "With him, ended an illustrious era spanning more than five decades. The greatest teacher of method acting we ever had. The revered guru to no less than four generations of brilliant actors. Rest in peace sir."

Roshan Taneja is known as the 'pioneer of method acting' in India and is held in high regard in the Hindi film industry. He had been training talent since the 1960s, first at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune and later at his private school in Mumbai, the Roshan Taneja School of Acting.

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