Why 'mustak khan' Trended in India: Mushtaq Khan's Death, Age Discrepancy and the Bachchan Flat Story

Why 'mustak khan' is trending in India

On 25 September 2026, Indian Google searches for “mustak khan” — a common misspelling of the actor's name, alongside the variant “mustaq khan” — jumped roughly 500%, with about 2,000 searches recorded in 24 hours, according to Google Trends India. The spike followed news that veteran Bollywood character actor Mushtaq Khan, familiar from films such as Welcome, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha and Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, had died in Mumbai on 24 September 2026. It is worth noting that Google Trends confirms search interest only; it does not itself verify the news.

What happened, and the conflicting age reports

According to the Economic Times, the actor died on Thursday, 24 September, with the news confirmed to ANI by FWICE president BN Tiwari. That report put his age at 56 and described a prolonged battle with lung cancer. However, the Times of India reported his age at death as 75, saying he died at Nanavati Hospital after a battle with cancer. This 19-year gap between the two reports remains unresolved in the available coverage, so readers should treat either figure with caution until an official family or industry statement clarifies it.

His son's account of the final days

At the funeral held on 25 September at Yari Road Cemetery in Mumbai, Mushtaq Khan's son Mohsin Khan told the media that the cancer was initially detected at an early stage but progressed aggressively, advancing faster than the family realised. He described his father's final moments as peaceful, saying the end came with a smile. Actors Rajat Bedi and Ali Khan were among those who attended the last rites, while Anupam Kher, Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty, Rajpal Yadav and others paid tribute publicly.

The Amitabh Bachchan flat anecdote

Amid the tributes, an old interview clip resurfaced in which Mushtaq Khan recalled how Amitabh Bachchan helped him obtain his first Mumbai flat. In the clip, he described a government housing scheme under the Chief Minister's quota that reserved 10 per cent for artists. Bachchan, then a Congress MP from Allahabad, reportedly gave him a recommendation letter to deliver to Sharad Pawar, and within days Khan received a call that led to a flat in Kandivali. The story has been widely shared as an example of industry camaraderie during Bachchan's brief political stint in the 1980s.

Why the misspelling drove the trend

The trending term “mustak khan” rather than the correct “Mushtaq Khan” illustrates a familiar pattern in Indian search behaviour: when news breaks suddenly, users type phonetic approximations, and Google's trending lists capture those variants. Fans searching under either spelling were largely looking for confirmation of the death, the cause, and clips of his memorable comic roles — particularly his turn as Ballu in Welcome, whose one-legged hockey-player dialogue remains a pop-culture staple.