Veteran Indian actress Tabassum
Veteran Indian actress Tabassum Image Credit: twitter.com/tabassumgovil

Veteran Indian actress Tabassum has died due to a cardiac arrest, according to reports quoting her son. She was 78.

The former child actress’ son Hoshang Govil told Indian Express that she passed away suddenly on the evening of November 18.

“She passed away last night around 8.40pm due to cardiac arrest at a hospital,” he was quoted as saying. “She was absolutely healthy. We shot for our show 10 days ago. And were about to shoot again next week. It happened all of a sudden.”

Tabassum, born Kiran Bala Sachdev, made her movie debut as a child star in 1947’s ‘Nargis’. She went onto feature in a number of movies as a child, such as ‘Mera Suhaag’ and ‘Manjhdhar.

She also famously hosted the Doordarshan show ‘Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan’, considered India’s first Indian celebrity talk show, from 1972 to 1993.

Most recently, she ran her own YouTube channel called ‘Tabassum Talkies’.