I admired Vikram Gokhale's work in Aalavandhan and Hey Ram: Kamal Haasan

National Award-winning actor Vikram Gokhale breathed his last yesterday after suffering from ill health for a couple of weeks. Tributes have been pouring in for the acting legend whose repertoire of work includes Vikram Vetal, Insaaf, Khuda Gawah, Agneepath, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Mission Mangal, Hichki, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa to name a few. During his stint as a film actor, the legend also took the plunge into Tamil cinema with Aalavandhan (2001) and Hey Ram (2000). Incidentally, both the films starred Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan in the lead.

Kamal Haasan took to his social media handle to pay his tribute to the legend and said that he admired his work in both the films. Kamal Haasan penned a tweet  in Tamil, which roughly translates to, "Vikram Gokhale began his acting career on stage and established himself on screen. I have admired his talent in Aalavandhan and Hey Ram. He loved acting so much that his film was released earlier this month after he was admitted to the hospital due to physical weakness. My tribute to him (sic)."

While Vikram Gokhale essayed the role of Maharaja in Hey Ram, who chooses Shriram Abhyankar and Saket Ram for the assassination of Mahatma. In Aalavandhan, he played Kamal Haasan's character's maternal uncle Ranganath. Hey Ram is a period  drama, written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, which depicts an alternate history of the partition of India and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse. Aalavandhan, is a psychological thriller directed by Suresh Krissna which involves magical realism as well. Kamal Haasan played dual roles in the film as Major Vijay Kumar and Nandha Kumar.

Vikram Gokhale began his career as a theatre artiste and went on to perform many memorable roles in Marathi and Hindi theatre and cinema. His demise is considered a huge loss to Indian cinema.