Though his daughter Pinky maintains he is better, friends of the family are not that optimistic about the veteran actor's health.
"He is getting on. Pransaab is a fighter but one can't really fight old age beyond a point," a colleague said.
Pinky, who is currently shuttling between two ailing family members -- her father and mother-in-law -- in two different hospitals, says, "He (Pran) is better but cannot have any visitors at the moment."
Meanwhile, the makers of the Zanjeer remake, who wanted to cast Pran in a token cameo, have now decided to pay the actor's Sher Khan character from the original Zanjeer, homage in a different way.
His famous Manna Dey song in the film -- Yaari hai imaan mera -- will be recreated and put across on screen by Sanjay Dutt, who plays Sher Khan's role in the remake.
Says a source from Apoorva Lakhia's Zanjeer team, "We thought of dropping the song altogether since there were too many copyright hassles. But now we're determined to get the song at any cost. You really can't have Sher Khan in Zanjeer not singing Yaari hai imaan mera."