New Delhi: The death of Dinesh Phadnis aka ‘Freddy’ of CID is now uniting his fans across India and Pakistan.
Indian actor Phadnis, 57, best known for playing Inspector Freddy in the popular crime series on Sony TV, died in Mumbai on Monday. While Indians mourned their loved character, ‘Freddy’ was trending on X in Pakistan. The weekly series that first aired in India more than two decades ago in 1998 has acquired a cult following and its characters, including Freddy, Daya, Salukhe, Abhijit and ACP Pradyuman have their own fan bases.
“Every afternoon, coming from school tuning to Sony TV and watching CID and seeing him, who brought the Humor to the serious show,” one Pakistani X user posted.
Another user, @77shadabkhan, called him “Favorite actor of our childhood”, sharing the actor’s picture.
Every afternoon coming from school tuning to Sony TV and watching CID and seeing him, who brought the Humor to the serious show. Won't be able to watch CID easily anymore. Feels like a piece of childhood has ended! Life is uncertain, Thank you for the memories. 💔 #Freddy #CID pic.twitter.com/J3vstB05WO
— Arfaa Bangash 🇵🇰 (@ArfaaBangash) December 5, 2023
Waqas Akhter from Muzaffargarh, Pakistan said, “Nothing hurts more than seeing your childhood favorites die, Freddy from CID passed away…Lot’s of love and prayers from Pakistan.”
Also Read: In pre-Netflix world, CID and two pegs of Bournvita is how we grew up
Indians surprised
From thanking the Indian actor for the wonderful ‘laughter’ and ‘childhood memories’ to calling him one of their own, Indians were surprised to see how Pakistanis had embraced both Phadnis and CID.
“You guys had Cid there in Pakistan?”, an X user from India asked, to which Pakistanis responded enthusiastically, sharing their childhood memories of the iconic show.
The nostalgic memories are back, You have no idea how crazy we were to watch that ironic show!
— Rozina ʙʜᴀᴛᴛɪ ℛℬ (@BhattiRazia) December 5, 2023
He was hailed as their ‘favourite character’.
Too many childhood memories with CID and the one who made us laugh and my favourite character in the CID was inspector Freddy ❤️
RIP 💔 pic.twitter.com/8D34B3gy9U— _🇵🇰 16_ (@IK_16_SMW) December 5, 2023
“Nothing hurts more than seeing your childhood favourites die”, said another X user.
nothing hurts more than seeing your childhood favorites die,Freddy from CID passed away.💔
Thank you Freddy Sir for making our childhood so beautiful with your comedy, you'll be missed man ❤️
Lot's of love and prayers from Pakistan ❤️#DineshPhadnis #CID #Freddy #RIP#HaniaAamir… pic.twitter.com/uw7m52JJ4K— Waqas Akhter 𝕏 (@waqasakhter077) December 5, 2023
Freddy was comic relief in the crime show which had more than 1,500 episodes, Dinesh Phadnis also made appearance in films such as Sarfarosh and Mela, alongside Aamir Khan as well as in the film Super 30, featuring Hrithik Roshan. Apart from acting, he also wrote some of the episodes of CID and a Marathi film.