Icons We Lost in 2012

With a spectrum of BO rockers and a diverse range of path breaking movies, 2012 will remain a memorable year for showbiz biggies and cine buffs, but besides this Bollywood will never be able to forget the year because of irrecoverable loss it has suffered in the year.

So with year reaching its end, let's offer our tribute to the gems of showbiz we lost this year.

Yash Chopra

The King of Romance is no more. He died this October at a Mumbai hospital after spending a week in hospital coping with dengue fever. He was 80 when the end came. Chopra, who was born on Sept 27, 1932, had announced his retirement from directing this year on his 80th birthday.

His last directorial venture was SRK-starrer Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Chopra had made his directorial debut with Dhool Ka Phool in 1959, a melodrama about illegitimacy and followed it with the hard-hitting social drama Dharmputra. Chopra has charmed Indian audience with films like Daag, Joshila, Silsila, Dil To Pagal Hai, Veer-Zaara.

Rajesh Khanna

India's first Bollywood superstar, Rajesh Khanna, whose popularity touched the sky in the early 1970s after he scripted a history of unbroken hits for years, died in July this year at the age of 69.

Dara Singh

India's iconic wrestler turned actor Dara Singh, who entertained audience with his acting skills and brawn for over nearly five decades and played the Hanuman in epic teleserial Ramayanan died in July. He was 84.

AK Hangal

Veteran Bollywood actor AK Hangal, who had worked in more than 200 films, died in Mumbai this year. He was 95 year old when death came.

Jaspal Bhatti

Actor and political satirist Jaspal Bhatti, who had Indian idiot box viewers in splits during the 1990s with his shows like 'Flop Show' and 'Ulta Pulta', died in October 2012 in a road accident. He was 57.

Achala Sachdev

Actor Achala Sachdev, who was well-known for playing roles of mother and grandmother in Hindi films, died at the age of 91 in Pune after suffering from various ailments

Pt. Ravi Shankar

Indian musician and sitar exponent Pandit Ravi Shankar passed away at age 92 at a San Diego hospital in United States in December, leaving behind countless mourners from every walks of life and a musical legacy that he built over a lifetime of dedication to the plucked string instrument and international collaborations, including the Beatles.

Mehdi Hassan

After Jagjit Singh ghazal arena faced another setback when ghazal maestro Mehndi Hassan breathed his last in June. In almost a 6 decade long career Mehdi thoroughly mesmerized millions of ghazal with the spell of his voice and took ghazal singing to a new horizon.