PESHAWAR : Legendry Indian film industry super star, Vinod Khanna, who died on Thursday at the age of 70 in Mumbai due to protacted illness, had roots in Peshawar.“Late Vinod Khanna was the son of Mehr Chand Khanna, a prominentbusinessman and former minister in Congress party. He was born inPeshawar on October 6, 1946 at Sardar area in Cantonmentjurisdiction,” Muhammad Ibrahim Zia, a known film historian fromPeshawar said.Talking to APP, Zia said he met Vinod Khanna in 2014 during a visit to India as being a member of the delegation which went to inquire after the health of the top Indian film industry legend,Dilip Kumar, who also belonged to Peshawar.During the visit, we had a meeting with Vinod Khanna in New Delhi, who was very happy over reunion with people of his birth place (Peshawar), Zia recalled.He said Mehr Chand Khanna, father of Vinod Khanna, was a welloff person of Peshawar and had migrated to India in 1947. At the timeof migration, Vinod Khanna was an infant, but he had love for his birth city.Zia recalled that in the late 1990s during a function held in Dubai Vinod Khanna had announced on the stage with pride that he was a ‘Peshawari.’Zia said the ancestral home of Vinod Khanna was intact andpresently in use of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chapter of APWA (All Pakistan Women’s Association).During the meeting with Vinod Khanna, Zia said, the delegation presented him gifts including ‘Peshawar Chappal’ (sandals) and traditional dress, which he accepted very happily. Zia said healso presented a copy of his book, Peshawar Key Funkar (Artists of Peshawar), to the legend star.The book gives detailed history of big screen actors who belonged to Peshawar and worked in different film industries during the last 100 years.Shakeel Waheedullah, General Secretary Cultural Heritage Council KP,who was also part of the delegation which met the Indian actor in 2014.