Vinod Khanna was an Indian actor and producer of Bollywood movies. He was the recipient of two Filmfare awards. He was also an active politician and was the MP from the Gurdaspur constituency between 1998–2009 and 2014–2017.
In July 2002, Khanna became the minister for Culture and Tourism in the Atal Behari Vajpayee cabinet. Six months later, he became the Minister of State for external affairs.
Khanna was born in a Punjabi Hindu family to Kamla and Krishan Chand Khanna on 6 October 1946, in Peshawar (Pakistan).
Khanna became a follower of the spiritual teacher Osho (Rajneesh) and left the film industry in 1982 for five years.
In 1997, Khanna joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was elected from Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab in the next year's Lok Sabha poll.
In 1999, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the same constituency. Later, he became union minister for culture and tourism in July 2002. Six months later, he was moved to the ministry of external affairs (MEA) as Minister of State.
In 2004 he won re-election from Gurdaspur. However, Khanna lost out in the 2009 general elections. In the 2014 general election, he was again elected for the 16th Lok Sabha from the same constituency.
Khanna was hospitalised at the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Center in Girgaon, Mumbai on 2 April 2017 for a few weeks after suffering from severe dehydration.
He died on 27 April, and it was revealed that he had been battling advanced bladder cancer.
Although the news about his deteriorating health started to spread in early 2017, his family declined to disclose any information.