Pradeep Rawat Dies At 74: Inside His Five-Year Fight With Blood Cancer

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Pradeep Rawat had already recovered from blood cancer once. A few months ago, it came back.

The actor, best known for playing the menacing Ghajini Dharmatma opposite Aamir Khan, died on Tuesday evening at a hospital in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. He was 74. His business manager, Siddharth Tiwari, confirmed that Rawat had been in and out of hospital for the past two months as his condition worsened, following a relapse of the illness he had beaten years earlier.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @i_pradeeprawat

Rawat had been undergoing treatment at Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital before being shifted to a specialised cancer facility in Bhiwandi. He is survived by his wife, Kalyani Rawat, and son, Vikramaditya Rawat.

A Villain Who Outgrew The Genre

Born on 21 January 1952 in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Rawat's break came not in cinema but on television, playing Ashwatthama, son of Dronacharya, in BR Chopra's Mahabharat. It made him a household name years before Bollywood came calling.

He began his film career with Meri Jung in 1985, but it was his intensity in negative roles that carried him across languages - Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Bhojpuri - spanning over 200 films over four decades. Audiences remember him as the ruthless antagonist in Sarfarosh and Lagaan, where his scenes with Aamir Khan became among the films' most quoted moments.

His most iconic turn came in 2005, in A.R. Murugadoss' Tamil blockbuster Ghajini, where he played the title villain opposite Suriya. The performance was striking enough that Murugadoss cast him again in the 2008 Hindi remake, this time facing off against Aamir Khan, a role that introduced Rawat to a whole new generation of viewers. His most recent screen appearance was in the 2025 Vicky Kaushal-starrer Chhaava, where he played Yesaji Kank.

Tributes Pour In From The Industry

News of Rawat's death spread quickly through the film fraternity. His Lagaan co-star and old friend Yashpal Sharma posted on Instagram, calling him "our Ghajini Deva of Lagaan." Actors Gajendra Chauhan and Roshni Achreja also shared condolences, alongside Nepali actress Vipana Thapa, who had worked with Rawat on the films Aabaat Aama and Aabaat Aama-2.

Rawat's last rites were expected to take place on Wednesday, according to his manager. No further details about the funeral have been made public.

Pradeep Rawat spent nearly forty years playing men audiences loved to fear - and somehow, in doing so, became one of Indian cinema's most recognisable faces. From Ashwatthama's quiet menace to Ghajini's brute force, his roles rarely asked for sympathy, but his death has drawn it in abundance from an industry that clearly saw more in him than the villain on screen.