INDIAN ACTOR IRRFAN KHAN,PASSED AWAY AT THE AGE OF 53 OF CANCER.{PHOTOS}.#RIP.

    The Bollywood star was among the first Indian actors to make a consistent mark in Western cinema and had appeared in several Hollywood pictures, including "Life of Pi" and "Slumdog Millionaire''.

Indian film star Irrfan Khan has died at the age of 53 after a prolonged battle with cancer, his publicist said on Wednesday.

"Irrfan was a strong soul, someone who fought till the very end and always inspired everyone who came close to him," his publicist said in a statement.

Khan's international movie career included Hollywood hits such as Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi and The Amazing Spider-Man.

Alongside Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth and Om Puri, Khan was among the first line of Indian actors to leave a mark in Hollywood and Anglo-American cinema.

"I never knew I would be so sad — I felt a punch in my heart," Adil Hussain, who was in Life of Pi with Khan, told DW. "He was able to express himself with the utmost vulnerability and where he embodied the character in a wholesome way to give access to the audience to look at his soul."

Long illness

The actor, who was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor in 2018, was admitted to Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital earlier this week with a colon infection.

After revealing he had been diagnosed with the tumor in 2018, Khan received extensive treatment and recovered well enough to shoot Angrezi Medium, the film which would turn out to be his last, and whose release this March was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Guardian reported..More photos below.