« Back to article

Print this article

PIX: Antara Mali, friends at Jagdish Mali's last rites

While the film industry gave it a miss, several close friends and members of Jagdish Mali's family showed up to bid him a final goodbye at the Shivaji Park crematorium on May 13, a few hours after he breathed his last at Nanavati hospital.

A distraught Antara Mali, who arrived with husband Che Kurien (not in the picture), at the funeral.

Video: Jagdish Mali's funeral

Ashok Pandit

Filmmaker and social activist Ashok Pandit, who had kept everybody posted about Mali's health through his Twitter posts, led the funeral procession.

Pandit defended the thin attendance at the hospital, where the former lensman passed away: "Not too many people knew of Jagdish's condition. On May 1, he slipped in the bathroom and broke his hip. We rushed him to the hospital where the damage was taken care of. But Jagdish's old liver condition showed up. He had a drinking problem earlier but he had stopped drinking recently. He died of multiple-organ failure.

"This is no age to die," Pandit adds.

Mali was only 59.

Shrabani Mukherjee and Deepti Bhatnagar

Former actresses Shrabani Mukherjee and Deepti Bhatnagar console a friend.

"Jagdish had spent a large part of his life beautifying so many actresses -- from Rekha to Dimple Kapadia to Madhuri Dixit -- for the camera lenses. Where were they?" asks a close friend of the family.