Baba Siddique and the big Bollywood connection

NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was shot dead on Saturday night, epitomised the symbiotic relationship between politics and the Hindi film industry

He played peacemaker between one-time warring superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan at what was one of the most viral moments of 2013 before the social media rage kicked in and was a protege, even a second son, to cinema veteran Sunil Dutt.

Also read: Baba Siddique killing LIVE updates

NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was shot dead on Saturday night, epitomised the symbiotic relationship between politics and the Hindi film industry.

His grand iftar parties were a starry affair attended by right from the Khans to filmmaker Kabir Khan, celebrity designer Manish Malhotra, and actors Urmila Matondkar, Katrina Kaif, Huma Qureshi, Sonu Sood, Sushant Singh Rajput, Ankita Lokhande, Kiara Advani, R Madhavan, and Aditi Rao Hydari.

Dutt's daughter and Congress leader Priya Dutt said she is "shocked" by Siddique's death.

Siddique, a popular figure in Bollywood circles who earned praise for supplying life-saving medicines to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, was waylaid by three men at Kher Nagar in Mumbai's Bandra area just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office and shot at on Saturday night.

He was taken to the Lilavati Hospital where he was declared dead.