B'wood pays its reverence to Mahajan

Actors remember the late leader as a man who helped him in times of need.

Many Bollywood celebrities say they will always remember Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan as a man helped them in times of need.

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Shabana Azmi: "It's big tragedy. My heart goes out to the family. He was a master-negotiator and that's why an excellent minister of parliamentary affairs. It requires guts to say the party's defeat was his own failure. But he said it unhesitatingly.

"I had ideological differences with him. But when Abba (father Kaifi Azmi) requested an appointment with him he came over immediately out of respect in spite of Abba being a member of the Communist Party of India. He quickly did the work that Abba wanted done for his village. I'll never forget that."

Mahesh Bhatt: "He was one minister who walked his talk. He went out of his way to help Ajay Devgan when his set was being torn down in Ooty by vested interests."

Smriti Mishra: "Words fail me. He fought every battle bravely. I didn't expect him to lose this one. Everyone speaks of his organisational skills. What isn't that well known is that he helped each and every person who knocked on his door."

"In fact I was in Assam last month for a meeting. Unfortunately the pilot wasn't able to land at the meeting. After 20 minutes of hovering in the sky, we left. Pramodji requested me to go back to the meeting. I went back by road on his request. He wrote me a lovely letter thanking me for making the effort. Pramodji kept saying we'll have dinner together. Main ghar aaonga aapke. That never happened."

Mahajan, who was shot by his younger brother from a close range April 22 in a "fit of rage", succumbed to his wounds on Wednesday.