Mumbai: The last rites of child artist Taruni Sachdev, who died in a plane crash in Nepal, were performed here Wednesday evening.
Her body was brought to Mumbai from Kathmandu through cargo along with her mother’s body at 3 p.m. The funeral took place at Santa Cruz (West) cremation ground at 5.30 p.m. Her mother was also cremated at the same time.
“Woh bhagwan ki beti thi, bhagwan ke paas chali gayi (She was god’s daughter, she has gone to god),” Taruni’s father told reporters here.
Her maternal uncle said: “Apni maa ke saath teerth yatra par gayi thi aur yeh sab ho gaya (She had gone on a pilgrimage with her mother). We are still in state of shock.”
Taruni was among 13 Indians who were killed when an aircraft crashed into a hill while coming in to land at Jomsom in western Nepal.
At 14, she had already featured in almost 50 ads, including a commercial for Rasna, and did a cameo in “Paa”, apart from featuring in Malayalam films “Vellinakshtram” and “Sathyam”.
No celebrities attended her funeral.
However, Vidya Balan, who essayed the role of Bachchan’s mother in ‘Paa’, said, “I don’t know how to react to this…to wake up to a news of Taruni passing away…It is very unfortunate for any parent to lose their child. And I really pray to God to give strength to her father to cope with this.”
“I remember Balki (director of ‘Paa’) used to say that she (Taruni) is like a mature actor and you put her in any situation she will manage it,” the actress said at an event last evening.
But Amitabh Bachchan, who played her school friend in Paa, condoled her death through a Twitter post, and sent a personal letter of condolence to the bereaved family. Abhishek also condoled her demise on micro-blogging site Twitter. (Agencies)