Pradeep Sarkar dead at 67: Vidya Balan, Deepika Padukone, Rani Mukerji pay their last respect to the director

Friends and colleagues of Pradeep Sarkar paid their condolences to the late filmmaker at his Mumbai residence on Friday afternoon. The filmmaker died at Lilavati hospital in suburban Bandra in Mumbai, his wife Panchali told the media. He was 67. Several actors, filmmakers and friends of Sarkar paid a visit to his residence before his body was taken to the Santacruz Crematorium for the last rites. 

The veteran filmmaker debuted in Bollywood with Parineeta, which starred Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt. Balan was seen arriving at the crematorium on Friday with her husband, producer Sidharth Roy Kapur. Also in attendance at the crematorium were stars like  Rani Mukerji, Dia Mirza, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rhea Chakraborty, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Gajraj Rao, Tahir Raj Bhasin and Sakshi Tanwar.

Rani Mukerji had worked with Pradeep Sarkar on Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Mardaani. Recalling her last interaction with Sarkar, Rani said, “I’m very very shocked by the news of Dada’s passing away. I, in fact, spoke to him just the other day when I had gone to Amritsar, to the Golden Temple where he had called me telling me about my film so we had a long chat, he was insisting to do a facetime call but that day the network was not good so I was unable to video call with him.” 

Sarkar was also a well-known ad filmmaker. He also made a name for himself by making some of the most iconic music videos in early 2000s. He made films like Parineeta, Mardaani, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Lafangey Parindey, and Helicopter Eela.