'Andaz Apna Apna' cinematographer Ishwar Bidri passes away at 87

''He suffered a cardiac arrest when we were at a marriage function in Belgaum, Karnataka on December 20. We immediately rushed him to KLES Hospital. ''He again suffered a cardiac arrest at the hospital and given his age, it led to multiple health issues. He passed away today at 9.50 am,'' Sanjeev Bidri told PTI. 

Born in Karnataka's Banhatti town, Ishwar Bidri is best known for his longstanding collaboration with filmmaker JP Dutta for whom he shot action dramas like ''Yateem'', ''Hathyar'', ''Batwara'' in the late 1980s and the 1998 war epic ''Border''. An emotional Dutta remembered the cinematographer as a ''great asset'' to his team who became a family member over the years. 

The duo first worked together in 1976 on the director's feature debut, the unreleased ''Sarhad''. ''It has been a very long journey, we started in 1976. My first film 'Sarhad' never got to see the light of the day. Then we worked on 'Ghulami', 'Yateem', 'Batwara', 'Hathyar', and 'Border'. 

''He was a decent, honest man. He has one of the most hardworking cameramen I ever worked with. Coming from Guru Dutt sahab's school of cinema, he was a great asset to me. I was much junior to him. He had seen me growing up as a filmmaker and my entire journey,'' Dutta told PTI. The director said he met Ishwar Bidri a few months ago. ''He would keep dropping by at the office for a cup of tea. He was like family,'' he added. 

The cinematographer also has movies such as Rajkumar Santoshi's cult comedy ''Andaz Apna Apna'' (1994) and action thriller ''Ghatak'' (1996), and ''Andaaz'', the 2003 romance musical directed by Raj Kanwar, to his credit. Ishwar Bidri is also survived by his wife. 

The last rites took place on Sunday evening in Vijayapura, Karnataka.