noted gujarati stage actor and hindi cinema and
tv artist mahavir shah, who played the role of villains and police
inspectors, passed away in a car accident at national highway, near
chicago in u.S.A yesterday.

 He was 40, and is survived by his wife, one son and a daughter. 

 Mr shah, who had left for usa on a two months tour just a five
days before for performing the gujarathi stage show ''saathi'', met
with a tragic end when he was knocked down by a speedy car.

 Tragedy occured when mr shah's vehicle met with a collission with
another speedy car on the national highway. However, the actor
managed to escape the collission but met a fatal end as when he
alighted from the car, another speeding vehicle from the rear side
dashed him.

 Mr shah was immediatley shifted to a local hospital by an
emergency helicopter, however, he died on the way.

 His contribution towards the gujarathi theatre was immense and
has to his credit prominent plays like 'janmahdata', 'khel',
'sakharam binder', 'saati' and 'huj taro ishwar' and others.

 Recently he had directed a gujarti play ''huj taro ishwar''.

 In a carrer spanning three decades, he acted in more than 50
hindi movies either as villian or charecter artist including
'ankush', 'tezaab', 'humdono', 'bichhu' and others. He also worked
with the silver screen and made his appearance in tele serials like
dastan, jivan mryutyu and others. 

 The departed actor's mortal remains will be brought to indian
within a day or two, his family sources confirmed.