Chandrayaan-2: Riteish Deshmukh, Anupam Kher hail Isro for its efforts after it loses contact with Vikram lander

As Vikram, the lander of Chandrayaan-2 lost communication with the ground station at Isro centre at Bengaluru, Bollywood celebrities expressed hope over the landing and hailed Isro for its efforts.

Taking to his Twitter account, Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh, said that "what was achieved today was no small feat."

"We shall over come!!!!! Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty their dreams!! We are incredibly proud of the entire team of @isro - what was achieved today was no small feat," he tweeted.

Anupam Kher too expressed hope and wrote, "Go... #Chandrayan2... Go. Indians all over the world are with you (sic)."

Anupam later tweeted, "Girte hain shehesvaar hi maidaan-e-jung mein, wo tifl kya gire jo ghutnon ke bal chalein. Well done Isro. We are proud of you."

Remaining hopeful, ace filmmaker Anubhav Sinha said, "it will happen, believe."

"Damn. I hope they can restore communication. Hard work of so many and prayers of so many. It'll happen. BELIEVE!!! Well done Isro," the Article 15 director tweeted.

R Madhavan motivated Isro scientists in a series of tweets.

Shekhar Kapur thanked PM Narendra Modi for "being a source and inspiration to Isro scientists".

He wrote, "Yes sir, and thank you for being a source of courage and inspiration to the scientists and kids that were at the Space centre. As you said, this is not a defeat .. its giant steps to ultimate success #NarendraModi #Chandrayaan2."

Adnan Sami wrote, "Out of 384,000 kms from earth to the Moon, we traveled 383,998 kms and fell short by only 2 kms!!! Incredible! So close and so proud! Kudos to our scientists for their genius, courage and determination! Till next time...Jai Hind!"

"Vikram lander's descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communication from the lander to ground station was lost. The data is being analysed," Isro chairman K Sivan had said.

The lander began its descent to the South Pole region of the moon on early Saturday morning.

The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter on September 2. The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon in its existing orbit. It was planned to land on the far side of the moon between 1:30 am to 2:30 am on the intervening night of Friday-Saturday. This would have been followed by rover (Pragyan) roll-out between 5:30 am to 6:30 am.

After revolving around the Earth's orbit for nearly 23 days, the craft began its journey to the moon on August 14.

The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22. India's second mission to the moon was approved by the cabinet in September 2008, just before the launch of Chandrayaan 1.