Pahlaj Nihalani Prayer Meet: Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff And More Mourn Filmmaker

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members of the film fraternity, young and old, stopped by for the prayer ceremony of producer Pahlaj Nihalani, who passed away on Thursday, June 4, at Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital in the early hours of the day. The late producer's funeral took place later that afternoon where many actors and filmmakers came to pay their condolences. On June 6, a prayer meeting was held in his honour and plenty of stars who had worked with the producer came to pay their last respects. Find out who all in the Bollywood fraternity attended.

Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha, Anil Kapoor remember Pahlaj Nihalani

After the veteran producer's funeral, the film industry gathered once again for his prayer meeting, which was held in Juhu, Mumbai, by his family. Veteran actors Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha were among the first to arrive and pay their respects to the filmmaker. Nihalani's first film as producer was Haathkadi in 1982 featuring Shatrughan in the lead role.

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Later, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Farhan Akhtar and his wife Shibani Dandekar, Shweta Bachchan, Zoya Akhtar, Anupam Kher, and Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai director David Dhawan were all seen entering the prayer meeting and offering condolences. Farhan had also gone for Nihalani's funeral.

Actors Fardeen Khan, Rajpal Yadav, Chunky Panday, Kritika Kamra, Dhurandhar's Rakesh Bedi, Raj Babbar, composer Anu Malik, FWICE chief advisor Ashoke Pandit and Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora's son Arhaan Khan were also spotted at the venue as they came to pay their respects to the filmmaker.

More about Pahlaj Nihalani

During his career, Nihalani produced films such as Ilzaam, which introduced actor Govinda; Aag Hi Aag; Andhiyan; Shola Aur Shabham with director David Dhawan; Aankhen; Dil Tere Diwana; and Julie 2. He also distributed the latter, which starred Raai Laxmi. His last film, Rangeela Raja (2019), which he also wrote, featured Govinda once again.

While attending his funeral, anemotional Govinda told the press, "The highly respected Pahlaj Nihalani ji was a foundation stone for many of us." He shared that several artists who rose from difficult and financially challenging circumstances received his support and encouragement in Bollywood. Nihalani's tenure as chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) from January 2015 to August 2017 featured several controversies as the filmmaker introduced several new strict guidelines for censoring feature films. He was replaced by lyricist and poet Prasoon Joshi. The producer is survived by his wife, Nita, and sons Vishal Nihalani and Chirag Nihalani.