Veteran actor Tabassum dies due to cardiac arrest

Mumbai: Veteran actor Tabassum, known for her work as a child artiste in several Hindi classics and also as host of popular Doordarshan talk show "Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan", has died after suffering a cardiac arrest, her son Hoshang Govil said on Saturday. She was 78. Govil said his mother had been admitted to a hospital here for the past few days.

On Friday, she suffered two cardiac attacks and passed away the night. "Few days ago, she was admitted to a hospital. She had gastro problem and we went there for check-up. She suffered two cardiac attacks at 8.40 pm and 8.42 pm. She passed away peacefully on Friday night," Hoshang said. Born in 1944 in Mumbai to Ayodhyanath Sachdev and Asghari Begum.

Tabassum started her career as a child artiste with the 1947 movie "Nargis". At that time, she was known in the industry as 'Baby Tabassum' and went to feature in many other movies such as "Mera Suhaag" (1947), "Manjhdhar" (1947) and "Bari Behen" (1949).

In the 1950s, Tabassum acted in movies such as "Sargam", "Sangram", "Deedar", and "Baiju Bawra". She also had a minor role in the 1960 historical epic "Mughal-e-Azam", starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala.