MUMBAI: The sudden demise this morning of revered Bollywood actor and Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Sunil Dutt has had its fallout on the television world. The Star Parivaar Awards - Star Plus' ode to its brightest TV stars - which was scheduled for today (25 May), has been postponed.

Star India, as a mark of respect to Dutt, has decided to reschedule the ground event to later this week but the telecast date of the event will remain unchanged - 4 June at 8 pm.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Star India COO Sameer Nair states, "Yes, the awards have been postponed. Sunil Dutt has been a very respected figure in our community, and the television and the film industry are very interlinked. It is a great loss for us and this is our way of paying homage to the renowned actor."

Star India senior VP marketing and communication Ajay Vidyasagar says, "Although our ground event will not take place today, our on-air telecast will remain unchanged. We will decide over the next few hours as to when to have the ground event."

Dutt Saheb (as the revered actor-politician was popularly known) passed away at 11 am this morning following a massive heart attack at his home in Bandra, north-west Mumbai. He would have turned 76 on 6 June.

The funeral is scheduled to be held at 5 pm this evening at the Shastri Nagar crematorium in Mumbai's western suburb of Santa Cruz.

Dutt was a man of many parts - actor, social activist and politician - but he made his name as an actor in a career that spanned nearly half a century. Born on 6 June, 1929, in present day Pakistan, he grew up as Balraj Dutt. His family fled to India during the partition and he came to Mumbai as a student of Jai Hind College.

Dutt's real breakthrough came with Mehboob Khan's magnum opus Mother India (1957). It was on the sets of what is considered among the finest movies ever made in India that he fell in love with his future wife Nargis (who incidentally played his mother in the film).

Dutt's last movie role was in the 2004 blockbuster hit comedy Munnabhai MBBS where he played father to real life son Sanjay Dutt.