MUMBAI: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan believes the demise of his "Piku" co-star Irrfan Khan is "tragic" because his potential as an actor was left "unrealised".
The 77-year-old actor on Saturday posted a tribute to both Irrfan and veteran actor Rishi Kapoor who died within a day of each other after their respective battles with cancer.
In the post on Instagram, Bachchan touched upon "the death of an elder celebrity vs death of a younger one" topic.
"The death of an elder celebrity vs death of a younger. the grief of the latter more intense than that of the former. Why? The younger more tragic
"Why the loss of the young seems more tragic than that of the older? Because you lament the loss of opportunity in the latter. unrealised possibilities," the megastar wrote.
Irrfan, 54, lost his battle with a rare form of cancer and died in a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday.
The actor was popular for his stellar performances in films such as "Maqbool", "The Warrior", "Paan Singh Tomar", The Namesake", "Jurassic World" and "Hindi Medium".
A veteran of Bollywood with over 150 films to credits during his five-decade-long career, Rishi died on Thursday at HN Reliance hospital here after a two-year-long battle with leukaemia.
On Friday, Bachchan posted a video tribute to Rishi, with whom he acted in films such as "Kabhie Kabhie", "Amar Akbar Anthony", "Naseeb", "Coolie", "Ajooba" and "102 Not Out".
The over five-minute-long black-and-white video features various stills from "102 Not Out".
Bachchan can be heard singing a rendition of classic song "Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam" in the background.
The megastar wrote in the caption, "Waqt. Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam. Tum rahe na tum, hum rahe na hum."