Shocked over Shandar Amrohi's death: Biographer Barkha Roy

Mumbai, Aug 22 (IANS) Yesteryears producer and actress Reena Roy's sister, Barkha Roy, who is writing a biography on Shandar Amrohi and was with him at the time of his death, says she is still shocked that he is no more.

Shandar Amrohi, elder son of late filmmaker Kamal Amrohi, died of a heart attack Sunday morning in Goa. He was 68.

Barkha was with Amrohi in Goa, where they had gone to shoot a video for the biography'From Nowhere to Somewhere'.

'I'm in a state of shock even now. It is very upsetting. I can't understand what's going around right now,' Barkha told IANS in an interview.

Explaining what happened before Shandar died, the writer said: 'He was absolutely okay. He just finished a shoot of a video where he was reciting the poetry of Meena Kumari (Shandar's stepmother). He just finished the shoot and he was very happy that he did the shoot.'

'Then we went to our rooms. Around 2:30 at night, his maid called me and said that he wants to meet me. First, I was shocked as to why he wanted to meet me at that hour, but the maid told me that he just wanted to meet me. So I went to his room.

'He was talking to me about the book and how to release it. Then he was joking about the shooting and we started laughing. Then he started feeling very uneasy. So I asked him what had happened. He said that he was feeling very very hot and suddenly he collapsed. So we immediately rushed him to the closest hospital. But by the time we took him there, he was declared dead. They (the doctors) said he died of heart attack,' said Barkha.

When asked her about the biography, she said it's too early to decide the fate of the book.

'The book is almost complete... little is left. As far as the release of the book is concerned, I don't know when and how that will happen. The book is almost complete, the videos are complete and even the audio is ready. It was all well-planned, but you know god has his own plans and one cannot do anything,' said a grief-stricken Barkha.

In the process of writing the biography, Barkha and Shandar became good friends.

'I was really concerned about him. I only interacted with him. Never interacted with his family members. I am a professional, but in the course of this book we became good friends. He was like a father figure to me. But still we used to call each other buddies. I hope his soul rests in peace,' she said.