Fero ze Khan no more

On Monday evening, when Feroze Khan was laid to rest at the Johnson Market Burial Ground, his family and friends were grieving but content in one knowledge: their Shah Bhai had lived life kingsize and to the full.

Feroze’s remains were buried near his late mother Fatima, in keeping with his wish, as close relatives, family and friends gathered in Bangalore bid adieu to the king of style. “Feroze was very close to his mother Bibi Fathima. He was the apple of her eye,” Akbar Khan, Feroze’s brother, said. “He was our brother, father and friend,” he added.
The man, who loved horses, had grown up in Bangalore on action-packed films, idolising stars like Douglas Fairbanks and Clark Gable. He had returned recently from Mumbai, the city that made his dreams come true, to his home, Bangalore, so that he could spend his last days here. Mirza Muhammad Mehdi and Dr Sajjad Mirza, Feroze’s neighbours from Cooke Town remembered how Feroze had gone to Mumbai early on and had supported his entire family.“
The entire family had migrated from Hyderabad to Bangalore in search of work and at that time, we had stayed in the same building as them.” When he breathed his last at his farmhouse, his son Fardeen Khan and some close relatives were by his side. His brothers Sanjay Khan, Akbar Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Sameer Khan and sister Dilshad Bi, attended the funeral.
Sanjay Khan remembered his brother as a person who brought a new style to the film industry and was stylish in his personal life as well. “He was flamboyant. When he walked into a congregation, he lit up the whole place,” Sanjay Khan said.

Actor Hrithik Roshan, who is married to Sanjay Khan’s daughter Suzanne Khan, and his filmmaker father Rakesh Roshan were also there to pay their last respects to the director. T-series Chairman Kishen Kumar and actress Celina Jaitley also came to the funeral. Feroze’s contribution to the Shia community was remembered at the funeral.
The Muazzan of Masjid E Askari, Mir Momin Abbas, who performed Feroze’s funeral rites said, “Feroze was Shia community’s big leader and had helped the community at various occasions.” “I love speed and thrill,” Feroze Khan had said once. And true to this, the “Clint Eastwood of Bollywood” brought the ‘Westerns’ to Hindi cinema with horses, cowboy hats, stallions and boots.
The last moghul of the film industry, as filmmaker Mahesh Bhat called him, also had a way with the leading ladies of his time be it Nargis, Hema Malini or Zeenat Aman. Feroz, who was last seen in the 2007 comedy Welcome, is survived by his actor son Fardeen and daughter Laila.

His last wish to re-make his greatest hit Qurbani, remains unfulfilled. Born on September 25 1939 to an Afghan father and an Iranian mother the actor made his debut in 1960 with Didi. But the actor was best remembered for the 1980 blockbuster Qurbani opposite Zeenat Aman.
The actor was known for his fascination for horses and was at his stylish best astride a stallion and slinging a gun. He raised racing horses in his farm house in Bangalore where he breathed his last. “I just love to see them run,” he often said. Feroze Khan’s favourite sport was hunting till 1973 and he would always tell friends how he shot 14 panthers and narrowly missed a tiger once and was happy about it.