After a prolonged illness, the 83-years-old filmmaker Shakti Samanta passed away at his residence in Mumbai on Thursday.

His son, Asim Samanta, also a film producer, was by his side.

He said, “My father suffered a stroke about two months ago and was recovering from it. On Thursday evening, while he was undergoing physiotherapy, he suffered a cardiac arrest. He left us at 6 pm.”

Samanta’s funeral would be held at the Santa Cruz crematorium at 11 am on Friday.

The veteran film maker has given many hit films to the Hindi film industry like Howrah Bridge (1958), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), An Evening in Paris (1967), Aradhana (1969), Kati Patang (1970), and Amar Prem (1971).

He was also the former president of Indian Motion Pictures Association of India (IMPAA).

Born in Burdwan, West Bengal, Samanta completed his graduation in 1944 from Calcutta University. After finishing his education he wanted to be an actor in Bollywood. He moved to Mumbai, and took a school teacher's job in Dapoli. He joined the film industry in 1948 as an assistant director to directors like Gyan Mukherjee, Satish Nigam and Phani Majumdar at Bombay Talkies

Samanta’s first directional venture was ‘Bahu’ in 1954. Samanta also started the trend of bilingual films. He directed 43 films, 37 in Hindi and six in Bengali.