Best friends Vinod Khanna and Feroz Khan died eight years apart on same date, of same disease

Whether you believe in coincidences or not, the fact that late legendary stars and best friends Vinod Khanna and Feroz Khan died on the same date, eight years apart, is something that will stun you for a few seconds for sure. Not just this, the two Hindi film industry icons were almost of the same age at the time of their demise and suffered from the same disease -- cancer. 

Not just onscreen, Vinod Khanna and Feroz Khan shared a great bond of friendship offscreen as well. The two had played friends onscreen in one of their biggest hits, Qurbani (1980) and then the duo came together for Dayavan (1988), a remake of Mani Ratnam's cult Tamil classic, Nayakan. But their friendship preceded these movies they starred in. 

The two hit it off as buddies in their first hit, Shankar Shambhu directed by Chand in 1976.

Such was their bond that while Feroz bid farewell to the world on April 27, 2009, Vinod left for his heavenly abode on the same day exactly eight years later, in 2017. While Feroz Khan died of lung cancer, Vinod Khanna lost the battle to bladder cancer. 

For the unversed, Feroz wanted to cast Vinod in the 1986 film titled 'Janbaaz', for the role that was eventually played by Anil Kapoor. But by that time Vinod had become disenchanted by the ways of the glamour industry and had decided to leave it all behind to find solace in the company of his spiritual guru, Osho Rajneesh, who had relocated to Oregon in the US. 

For the unversed, Vinod left the industry at the peak of his career when he was the second most popular actor after Amitabh Bachchan and turned into a gardener. In one of his interviews back in the day, Vinod had said that he was happy "to let the world go by". 

But destiny had something else in store for him. Vinod returned to showbiz for his second innings following the controversies over Osho's ashram in the US and it goes without saying that Feroz was among the first lot of producers who welcomed him back signed him on for 'Dayavan'. However, as we all know, Mukul Anand's Insaaf (1986) and Raaj N Sippy's Satyamev Jayate (1986) were the first two of his comeback films.

Incidentally, Feroz had first offered Vinod’s role in Qurbani to Amitabh Bachchan but the superstar had no dates at that time. And Feroz did not want to wait for six months to cast Bachchan. Subsequently, he signed Vinod for the film that story of which revolved around the theme of friendship and sacrifice. This film came as a turning point in their friendship and sealed their bond as brothers and friends for life. 

The two stayed life-long friends till Feroz died of lung cancer. 

Reportedly, a few days before Feroz's death, Vinod had paid a visit to him along with veteran actor Dharmendra at a Mumbai hospital where he was admitted. Together, they cried inconsolably.