Child artiste among those killed in Nepal air crash

Mumbai: Child artiste Taruni Sachdev, 14, and her mother Geeta from Mumbai were among those who were killed in the Nepal plane crash on Monday.

Fourteen-year-old Taruni had done a cameo role in the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Paa, in which she played his friend and also acted in several South Indian language films.

When news of the aircraft crashing on high-altitude Jomsom airport in Nepal was flashed on TV channels, a panic-stricken Harish Sachdev, the father of Taruni, was frantically calling up the Indian Embassy to learn about the details. And when he knew that his wife and daughter were on that ill-fated flight, the grief-stricken father of Taruni tried to book the earliest flight to Kathmandu, which was yesterday morning.

Both Taruni and her mother were among the passengers who had chartered the flight to take them from the tourist destination of Pokhara to Muktinath, a famous Hindu pilgrimage centre in Jomsom near the Tibetan border. The shocked relatives who went to Kathmandu to bring back the remains of their loved ones were reported to have asked the authorities why an old aircraft was allowed to fly.

Taruni's father said, "My friends asked me in Mumbai why these old aircraft flew in Nepal. It's about people's lives." Eight of the dead were from Mumbai and five from Chennai.

Bachchan shocked

The news of her death shocked the film industry with Bachchan expressing his shock in his blog, "Please God may this not be true" whilst his son Abhishek who also acted in Paa wrote, "Shocked and very saddened to hear about the Nepal plane crash. Lost one of my cutest co-stars. Little Taruni from PAA, Speechless." Bachchan senior also said how Jomsom airport where the crash took place "is where we shot Khuda Gawah, a raw airfield and most difficult to land on."

The young talented artiste had appeared in over 50 commercials and in recent years become quite popular in southern films. She held a special place in the hearts of Malayalam film fans with her performance in the film Velli Nakshatram, 2004, a supernatural thriller. Her mother had then commented that the film would do well because "Taruni is a very lucky child." Indeed, the film was a success and Taruni won the hearts of southerners. Her role in Satyam (2004) with Prithviraj and Priyamani too was appreciated.

Hectic years

The little girl achieved fame when she was just five years old, being introduced to the silver screen through Bol Baby Bol, a Star Plus show. In the next two hectic years, she acted in Malayalam films and appeared in several advertisements.

The girl with a cherubic face became famous as the ‘Rasna' (soft drink concentrate) girl, an ad she did with Karisma Kapoor. She also appeared on Shah Rukh Khan's reality TV quiz show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?

She was working on a Tamil film Vetri Selvan playing the sister of the heroine when her life was tragically cut short.