Veteran Marathi actor Ramesh Bhatkar who was last seen in 'The Accidental Prime Minister' died on Monday, after a battle with cancer. He was 70. The actor, who was suffering from cancer for more than one and a half year, breathed his last at a hospital here.

"He fought bravely as much as he could. But in the last one month, he was in tremendous pain and we all were worried. He was in ICU for the last fifteen days," actor Jaywant Wadkar told a leading daily. Ramesh Bhatkar's last rites will be held at 10.30 pm at Shivaji Park.

The actor was known for his roles in the TV series 'Commander' and 'Hello Inspector' and worked for more than 30 years as an actor in mainstream Hindi and Marathi films such as 'Aai Pahije' and 'Kucch To Hai'.

He was also seen in Bhavesh Joshi Superhero while recently he was seen playing the role of former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan in 'The Accidental PM'.

He was born in 1949. In addition to his artistic background, in his early college days Ramesh Bhatkar was a champion swimmer active for his college's aquatic team, and was an enthusiastic kho-kho player with the reputed Vijay Club in Dadar.

Ramesh Bhatkar was the youngest of Snehal's three children, with his older siblings being Snehalata Bhatkar (now married to Ramkrishna Barde) and Avinash Bhatkar.