Marathi actors Anand Abhyankar, Akshay Pendse killed in road accident

Well-known Marathi actors Anand Abhyankar and Akshay Pendse were among three people killed in an accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway early Monday, police said.

According to the State Highway Police, the accident occurred shortly after midnight when a rashly driven tempo on the Mumbai-Pune lane climbed on the road divider and rammed into the Wagon R car coming in the opposite (Pune-Mumbai) lane, near the Urse Toll checkpost.

The seriously injured victims, travelling in the Wagon R, were rushed to a hospital in Nigdi, a suburb of Pune, where Abhyankar, Pendse and his two-year-old son Pratyush Pendse, succumbed after a couple of hours, said investigation officer S.P. Mane of Wadgaon Police Station.

The bodies of those killed in the accident are kept in Y.C.M. Hospital in Pune.

Pendse's wife Deepti, who was also in the same vehicle sustained minor injuries and was discharged this morning after treatment, Mane said.

Abhyankar, 48, and Pendse, 35, were seen together in the roles of father and son in the ongoing teleserial "Mala Sasu Havi" on Zee Marathi.

A familiar face in Borivali suburb of Mumbai where he lived, Abhyankar had also worked in several Hindi movies, advertising films, Marathi movies, serials and jingles.

"The entire Marathi film industry is shocked by the sudden death of the two popular actors... We shall miss them," said leading Marathi director Amol Shetge.

Abhyankar and Pendse's funerals shall be held in Pune Monday afternoon, said a Marathi films spokesman Deepak Choudhary.