Veteran actor A.K. Hangal who was battling for his life for quite some time at the Asha Parekh Hospital in Santa Cruz, Mumbai passed away this morning (26 August 2012). The legendary actor had a fall recently, which led to a fracture of the thigh bone in his right leg. He also suffered from severe pulmonary infection and had a chronic kidney ailment. The actor was 98 years old. Hangalsaab was recently seen in the opening episode of Nautanki Films’ Madhubala Ek Ishq Ek Junoon on Colors where he played himself. He was the one who named the the protagonist of the show as Madhubala soon after her birth. The actor has been part of some amazing films like Namak Haraam, Sholay, Shaukeen, Aaina, Bawarchi, Arjun, Guddi, Kora Kaagaz and others. Talking about his sad demise and his experience shooting with the great veteran, Madhubala produce Saurabh Tewari said, “A.K. Hangal saab was a legend and it is sad that we do not have him with us. He gave our show Madhubala the best ratings till date of 3.0 which even surpassed the launch ratings of Indian Idol. We actually wanted a legendary film personality for the sequence where the kid is named in our show, and we had approached Dharamji (Dharmendra) to do it. He had agreed, but could not shoot with us as he got tied up on the given dates. We then thought of approaching Hangal saab, but when I went to his house, I decided not to talk to him about work as he looked very fragile and weak. When I talked to him and was about to leave, he asked me to at least narrate the character he had to play. Seeing the thrill and excitement of facing the camera again in his eyes, I decided to talk to him about the role. Actually there was an incident when he wanted to name the kid as Shobhalata instead of Madhubala (smiles). After the shoot, he thanked me for making him face the camera for the last time.” A.K. Hangal is survived by one son.. Tellychakkar.com pays tribute to the great departed soul