Veteran actress Manju Singh passed away following an illness, her family said here on Saturday.
The family said she passed away in Mumbai on Thursday.
“With profound grief, we inform you about the demise of our Manju Singh. She lived a beautiful and inspiring life, devoted to her family and her craft. From ‘Manju Didi’ to ‘Manju Nani’ she will be truly missed by all,” said the family.
In the early 1980s, Singh started with what was the first sponsored programme on the small screen, ‘Show Theme’.
She produced several memorable television programmes, ranging from serials, children shows, spiritual and other meaningful topics ‘Ek Kahani’, ‘Swaraj’, ‘Adhikaar’ and anchored the kids’ show ‘Khel Khilone’ which was among the longest-running shows then for Doordarshan.
Singh also acted in a few Hindi films, prominently as Ratna Sharma, the sister of the main lead Ramprasad D. Sharma (Amol Palekar) in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s award-winning comedy ‘Golmaal’, and ‘Hanky Panky’ (both, 1979), ‘Ladies Tailor’ (1981), ‘Screen Two’ (1985), sliding into character roles with ease from ‘sister’ to ‘granny’.
The government in 2015 nominated Singh as a Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) Member acknowledging her contribution to TV, films, creative arts and academics.