Dinesh Thakur, a noted Indian theatre director and actor, passed away on Thursday in Mumbai at the age of 65 following prolonged illness.

For the last few months the actor was suffering from kidney ailments and died at a suburban Andheri hospital, according to a family source. Thakur is survived by wife Prita Mathur, who has also worked with him in theatre.  

Raza Murad, Thakur's friend from the theatre and film industry, confirmed the news to IANS saying, "Dinesh Thakur passed away today morning. He was not keeping well since last three to four years."

Thakur completed his graduation from Kirori Mal College (KMC), Delhi University, and was also a part of the KMC's dramatic society. He started his acting career in 1971 film "Mere Apne" written and directed by Gulzar.

Thakur is best known for his role in 1974 film "Rajnigandha", which was directed by Basu Chatterjee and where he appeared as one of the leads alongside Amol Palekar and Vidya Sinha.

He has several highly praised movies in the 70s like "Mere Apne", "Rajanigandha" and "Ghar" to his credit. He is also known for writing the story and screenplay of 1978 film "Ghar" for which he won Filmfare Best Story Award in 1979.

The actor was also the founder-director of ANK productions, a Mumbai-based theatre company which he established in 1976. The "Ank Theatre Group" was solely dedicated to Hindi theatre in Mumbai, but had started growing in a big way after the advent of Jennifer Kapoor's Prithvi Theatre in 1978.