Tunisha Sharma, the 20-year-old TV actress from Chandigarh who committed suicide on Saturday afternoon by hanging herself from a ceiling fan in the makeup room of her rumoured boyfriend and co-star Sheezan Mohammed Khan in Vashi, Mumbai, made a positive impression on ‘Fitoor’ director Abhishek Kapoor.
Tunisha would have turned 21 on January 4. She played the female lead in the television soap ‘Alibaba: Dastan-e-Kabul’, where Sheezan Khan was her co-star.
The late budding star played the young Firdaus, the character essayed by Katrina Kaif, in the 2016 film. She was barely in her teens then. She played another Katrina Kaif character’s younger self in Karan Johar and Farhan Akhtar’s sci-fi romantic drama, ‘Baar Baar Dekho’.
Remembering her from ‘Fitoor’ (she was just 13 years old then), the film’s director, Abhishek Kapoor, wrote on Twitter to share his feelings: “Shocked and deeply saddened by the passing away of #tunishasharma. I worked with her on #fitoor. She was a young 13-year-old, a gifted and a disciplined actor. Someone with a bright future and so much to give as an artist… this is so heartbreaking. May her family find peace. Hari Om (folded hands emoji).”
Tunisha, incidentally, had gone public in the past about her battles with depression, mainly because she lost her father at a young age and then a cousin with whom she was very close.
In those days, she found emotional support in ‘Pandya Store’ star, Kanwar Dhillon, who was the first to rush to the hospital where Tunisha was taken immediately after she was found hanging.
Her mother, in those difficult and dark days, would always be by Tunisha’s side and ensure she never was alone. Tunisha was then on the star cast of ‘Internet Wala Love’.
Interestingly, Tunisha’s workmates all remember her as a cheerful young woman who was good-natured and generous.
Ayush Shrivastava, who worked with Tunisha in the TV show ‘Ishq Subhan Allah’, remembered his first day on the sets with her and how she made him comfortable. He also remembered Tunisha bringing six cakes for him on his birthday.
He wrote on social media: “I still remember the first day we met. It was on the sets of Ishq Subhan Allah. I was new and the set people misunderstood me for many reasons, but only you were the one who made me feel welcome there.
“Then ALI BABA happened and on my birthday you got me six cakes. Never did I ever imagine in my worst dreams that this day will come. I am so shattered … I so wish you would have failed … I just wish @tunisha.sharma this is NOT DONE. #tunisha.”
She impressed her seniors and her peers loved her. She did not deserve her end.
