Mukul Dev, former model and actor, passes away at 54

Mumbai: Actor Mukul Dev, best known for his roles in films like “Son of Sardaar”, “Yamla Pagla Deewana”, and “Jai Ho”, has passed away, a close family friend said on Saturday. He was 54. “Yes, it is true,” actor Mugdha Godse, partner of Dev's elder brother, actor Rahul Dev, told media when asked about the reports of Mukul Dev's demise. The circumstances surrounding Dev’s death, including the cause, are yet to be ascertained.

According to Dev's friend Vindu Dara Singh, the actor passed away on Friday at a hospital in Delhi. “He was unwell for eight to ten days. He passed away at a hospital in Delhi. He was not looking after his health, he was depressed after the demise of his mother,” Singh said. “We were waiting for Mukul to join us for the photo shoot of ‘Son of Sardaar 2’ but he had stopped answering our calls,” he added. Dev made his acting debut with the 1996 movie "Dastak", co-starring Sushmita Sen and Sharad Kapoor. He was largely seen playing supporting roles in Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and Telugu films and TV shows. Some of his notable movies included Ajay Devgn's "Son of Sardaar", Salman Khan-starrer "Jai Ho" and "Yamla Pagla Deewana", starring Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, as well as "Kohram", "R... Rajkumar" and "War Chhod Na Yaar". He is also credited as a co-writer of filmmaker Hansal Mehta's critically-acclaimed 2017 movie "Omerta", starring Rajkummar Rao. On the small screen, Dev appeared in popular daily soaps such as "Gharwali Uparwali", “Kumkum”, "Kutumb" and "Kasshish".