Veteran Bangla film actor Tapas Pal passes away

Veteran Bangla cinema actor and former lawmaker of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress Tapas Pal died of cardiac arrest in Mumbai early today at the age of 61, family sources said.

Pal, who had gone to Mumbai to visit his daughter, complained of chest pain at Mumbai airport while returning to Kolkata and was rushed to a hospital in Juhu, a Mumbai suburb.

He breathed his last around 4:00am (local time), our New Delhi correspondent reports, quoting his family members.

The actor had been suffering from heart ailments and was in and out of hospitals several times for treatment in the past two years.

He is survived by his wife and a daughter.

Pal, was a two-term member of Lok Sabha from Krishnanagar (2009-2019) and a member of West Bengal legislative assembly from Alipore constituency in Kolkata from 2001 to 2009. He had made his debut in politics in 2001.

The actor stayed away from cinema since his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Rose Valley chit-fund scam in December 2016 and was given bail after 13 months. He also had to undergo imprisonment after his arrest.

A romantic hero who became popular to the Tollywood film audience since his debut film, Tarun Majumdar-directed "Dadar Kirti" in 1980, Pal became a household name for lead roles in Saheb (1981), Parabat Priya (1984), Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), Anurager Choyan (1986) and Amar Bandhan (1986).

Pal won the Filmfare Award for his role in Bangla film Saheb.

He made his Bollywood debut in Hiren Nag's Abodh (1984) opposite Madhuri Dixit.

Veteran actors Ranjit Mallick and Chiranjeet and eminent director Buddhadeb Dasgupta condoled Pal's death and described him as a "quality artiste".