Veteran Indian actor Pradeep Rawat, known for his roles in “Lagaan” and “Ghajini,” died on Tuesday in Mumbai at the age of 74, following a five-year battle with blood cancer.

Rawat was admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai before his death. His business manager confirmed that the actor had previously recovered from blood cancer, but the disease relapsed a few months ago, leading to his final hospitalization.

The actor was widely recognized for playing Deva Singh in the 2001 sports drama “Lagaan,” which starred Aamir Khan and went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Rawat’s imposing screen presence made him a familiar face in Indian cinema across both Hindi and Tamil-language films.

He was equally well known for playing the menacing antagonist “Ghajini Dharmatma” in the 2005 Tamil blockbuster “Ghajini,” a role he later reprised in the 2008 Hindi remake starring Aamir Khan, which became one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of its era.

Beyond these two defining roles, Rawat built a career spanning several decades in the Indian film industry, frequently cast in supporting and antagonist roles that drew on his commanding physical presence.

He is survived by his wife, Kalyani Rawat, and their son, Vikramaditya Rawat. Tributes have poured in from across the Indian film industry following news of his death, with colleagues and fans remembering him for his contributions to some of Hindi and Tamil cinema’s most commercially successful films of the 2000s.

Rawat’s death adds to a string of losses for the Hindi film industry this year, with veteran character actors increasingly being remembered for defining supporting roles that shaped some of Bollywood’s biggest commercial hits. Funeral arrangements were still being finalized as of Tuesday, according to reports from Mumbai.