Gokhale’s friends from the industry are quite sad with this news as some of them spoke to Etimes and expressed their love for the actor. Writer-director-actor Ananth Mahadevan says it’s a personal loss for him. He said, “On 26th October he had called me to wish me on my birthday. He said, ‘I hope you haven’t forgotten me. We ought to be working more often. Cast me in your films.’ I said, of course, it’s always a pleasure. He did a very good job as a chief minister in Bhari Daastan. We also did Avrodh together. I directed a long series called Sambhav Asambhav with him in it. It’s been a long association. I always looked up to him as a veteran actor and someone to learn from. Because he came from a great lineage. His father Chandrakant Gokhale was a famous actor. Vikram was that kind of a man who had set milestone and standard for actors with his performances. Another thing that crosses my mind is his friendship and support.”
Mahadevan revealed that he had spoken to Gokhale last when he was sounding all fine. “We all thought that he had gotten over the period of ill health and he’s back in business. But then I think something must have taken a turn for the worse. I am shooting with Nana Patekar in Goa and Nana is very close to Vikram and his family. Nana considers him as his idol. They did Natsamrat together,” expressed Ananth.
For actor Aroh Welankar, this feels like a personal loss. “I spoke to him one month ago regarding some issue because he was CINTAA President. It’s very sad. People like Vikram Gokhale are walking institutions. The experience that he had and his contribution to the art is immense. It’s a huge loss for an artist and everyone who works in the industry,” he added.
Actor Amit Behl also pays tribute to Gokhale. Incidentally, Vikram and Amit share the same birthday. He said, “We did three films. He played my father. We used to talk to each other in Marathi. He had donated a lot of land in Pune for an old age home for actors. He donated one acre land for us and one acre land for Marathi actors and workers. We were supposed to start developing it in 2024. Now he’s gone and I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I have never met a more brilliant human being than him.”
Amit further confessed that actors used to be petrified to face Vikram in a scene because he was such a great actor. “35 years ago he got fed up of acting and said that he wanted to do farming,” he said.
Amit also shared, “He had access to PM Modi, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Amit Shah. And everybody would pick up his call because he had never taken any favour from anybody. I have never seen a person like him in my life. My father died in 2017. I felt the loss. But this loss I can’t even talk about. I have seen Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah standing up when Vikram Gokhale would walk into a room. He became what he became on his own merit and hard-work.”
Vikram Gokhale’s mortal remains has been kept at Balgandharva Rangmandir in Pune for his friends and family to pay their last respects. His funeral will take place at 6pm at Pune’s Vaikunth Smashan Bhumi.
