Popular television actor Nakuul Mehta paid an emotional tribute to film veteran Junior Mehmood, who died on Thursday night after his prolonged battle with stomach cancer. The actor died at his Mumbai home. Nakuul Mehta worked with the late actor in the serial Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara. In that serial, Nakuul's character name was Aditya and, therefore, Junior Mehmood used to call him "Adi baba". Nakuul also mentioned in his post that how the late actor made him feel comfortable on the sets despite being a newcomer. Nakuul wrote in his extensive post, "I had the great fortune of sharing sets with Junior Mehmood Saab in my very first television outing. I vividly recall filming our first shot together for the pilot and in time he set the tone for our relationship by fondly calling me Adi Baba on and off sets and I loving addressed him as Junior Sir! Whilst the set has a mix of some experienced and distinguished actors and then there were absolute newcomers.. In between all of them was one man with a cumulative experience of all of us. He served the arts for 55 years before he passed on yesterday but never for a moment made you believe or feel that he came from years of work, having worked with some of the greatest and being an inspiration himself to some wonderful comic talent which subsequently found their home in our industry."
He continued, "He was always encouraging, very considerate of another actors space and never for once made you feel like you did not belong. We called him Shanky Kaka and he was that actor and person on and off set who would never command attention but you take him off the show and something would not feel right. He was that invisible glue who would hold the show together and rarely got credit that he in all fairness deserved. Knowing him, he'd be happy just to be on a set, living his childhood dream."
He signed off the post with these words, "Thank you for your kindness and that always encouraging smile. Being on a set with you made me so much better. Thank you for the memories, Junior Sir. P.S. Thanks @alekhsangal for sharing this picture from the distant past. Our man @ayushdas always with a knack of saving precious memories for posterity." Take a look at the post here:
Junior Mehmood's family confirmed his death. "My father passed away at 2.00 am following his battle with stomach cancer. He was in a critical condition since last 17 days. He had lost 35-40 kg in a month," Hasnain Sayyed, Junior Mehmood's younger son, told news agency PTI. Johny Lever, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Raja Murad, Yashpal Sharma, Jaaved Jaaferi, Aditya Pancholi, singer Sudesh Bhosale paid their last respects to the late actor on Friday.
Junior Mehmood worked in more than 260 films across languages. They are Brahmachari, Kati Patang, Hare Raama Hare Krishna, Geet Gaata Chal, Imaandaar, Baap Numbri Beta Dus Numbri, Aaj Ka Arjun, Gurudev, Chhote Sarkar and Judaai among many others. He also featured in TV shows such as Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyaara Pyaara and Ek Rishta Saajhedari Ka.