Remember the affable veteran actress who was often seen in Karan Johar movies as either Shah Rukh Khan or Kajol’s mother? Once a heroine, too, the beautiful Farida Jalal is a face that not many can forget. Add to that her charming acting. And so, on Sunday night, Bollywood fans were in for a rude shock when a news started circulating on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other social media that Farida Jalal is DEAD! Condolences began pouring in and there were obituaries written, some being written and published as we speak, but the real news is that FARIDA JALAL is NOT DEAD!
Like all death hoaxes in recent times, we don’t know how the story of Farida Jalal’s death began. But publicist Himaanshu Shukla has issued a statement saying Farida Jalal is alive and kicking. Read the statement here! “Veteran actress Farida Jalal not dead – After Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Yo Yo Honey Singh, another actress becomes a victim of a death hoax after a message of the Farida Jalal passing away went viral on social networking site. Farida said, ‘I am hale and hearty. I don’t know from where these baseless rumours are coming from. Initially I laughed, but from last 30 minutes my phone has been constantly ringing and everybody is asking the same question. It’s a bit irritating, I wonder why people spread such rumours’.”
Celebrity death hoaxes in recent times, and of the same Bollywood stars time and again, have been that of veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Shashi Kapoor, veteran playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit-Nene, rap singer Yo Yo Honey Singh when he went into hibernation due to depression, comedian Johny Lever, and superstar Salman Khan.
In fact, right from the time Salman Khan became a superstar in the late eighties and nineties, there have been rumours of his death, sending his millions of fans in a scurry now and then. Death hoaxes are regular in Hollywood, too (unfortunately), and recently there have been actors like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johnny Depp, Jackie Chan, Jack Black, Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman and Adam Sandler, and singer Lady Gaga, to name a few, who were pronounced dead even before waiting for an official announcement or confirmation from the right sources.
We are glad that all these stars are hale and hearty, and so is the lovely Farida Jalal! The actress will be soon seen in the role of a Kashmiri woman in television actor Imran Khan’s first film production, Sargoshiyan. The story is about unseen Kashmir and we are sure looking forward to seeing her in the film.
