Director of Amitabh Bachchan-starrer 'Don' Chandra Barot passes away at 86, Big B pens heartfelt note

Mumbai: Veteran filmmaker Chandra Barot, best known for the 1978 Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Don”, passed away on Sunday due to cardiac arrest at a hospital in Mumbai, his wife said.

He was 86. Barot was battling 'Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis' (IPF-fibrosis of lungs) for the past 11 years and had been receiving treatment at the Guru Nanak Hospital, as per his family.

After the announcement of Barot's passing, tributes poured in from several Bollywood personalities, including megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who described the filmmaker as his "dear dear friend".

"It is difficult to put in words the loss. We worked together, yes, but he was more a family friend than any else ..I can only pray," 82-year-old Bachchan wrote on his blog.

“Chandra passed away at the Guru Nanak Hospital this morning at 6.30 due to cardiac arrest caused by a chest infection. He had IPF, which is fibrosis of the lungs, for the past 11 years,” his wife, Deepa Barot told PTI.

Before making his directorial debut with Don, the filmmaker served as an assistant director to actor-director Manoj Kumar in Purab Aur Pachhim, Roti Kapada Aur Makaan, Yaadgaar, and Shor.

After Don, Chandra Barot directed a Bengali film Aashrita (1989).

The filmmaker is survived by his wife and a son.

Don, which gained a cult status, was turned into a franchise by filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, son of Javed Akhtar, who had written the original script of the movie along with Salim Khan.

One of the most celebrated films of Chandra Barot's career, Don had its fair share of ups and downs.

On the 40th anniversary of the movie in 2018, Chandra Barot in an interview with PTI shared an interesting insight that he, along with his friends Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman and Pran – all three who featured in “Don” – decided to make the film to pull one of their producer friends, Nariman Irani, out of debt.

Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment bought the rights to the 1978 film and directed it in 2006, with Shah Rukh Khan playing the titular role.

Filmmaker Kunal Kohli fondly remembered assisting the late director on an unreleased movie, “Boss”, starring Vinod Khanna.

“Chandra ji RIP sir. The only director I assisted. Not in ‘Don’. For a film with Vinod Khanna called ‘Boss’ that never saw the light of day. But what an enriching experience working with him. Heard so many BTS stories of ‘Don’," Kohli said on X.

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta thanked Barot for making “Don”, which he described as one of the most entertaining Hindi movies ever made.

“Rest In Peace, Chandra Barot Sir. Many thanks for DON. One of the most entertaining Hindi films ever,” he said.