MUMBAI: Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji, has offered her condolences at the sudden demise of filmmaker Pradeep Sarkar.

The filmmaker passed away in Mumbai at around 3:30 a.m. on March 24 after renal complications.

Rani, who has worked with Pradeep in 'Laaga Chunari Mein Daag' and 'Mardaani', 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. We were planning to meet this week when I got back but it is just so unexpected."

The actress continued: "His wife (Panchali boudi) called me at 4 a.m. when this happened, it is really sad and shocking that dada has passed away like this. Boudi had informed me that he was on remission and he was all ok. He was also shooting these last few days so I don't know how it all transpired in just a matter of a few hours. I'm sure everybody who knows Dada will feel his loss deeply the way I'm feeling it. I had a great connection with him, we've done a lot of work together over the years, so it's literally like losing a family member."

Pradeep made his directorial debut with the Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Vidya Balan-starrer 'Parineeta' and was one of the most revered directors of Hindi cinema.

Rani further mentioned: "My heart goes out to Boudi, Ronno and Raya as they were a very close-knit family and to all the people who worked in Dada's production house and those who have been attached to him over the years. It's going to be a great loss for them."

"So I'm really very saddened by this because I was meant to meet him soon so I feel terrible about it. You never realise how life is so unpredictable, you speak to a person and the next thing you know is that the person is not there. I will hold on to my last memory of him being so happy and excited for me as he had called me to share the feedback that he was getting for my film and me from all over," she concluded.

SOURCE: IANS