Manju Singh, a veteran television producer and Gol Maal actor, has died

Manju Singh, a veteran Hindi television presenter and actor, died of cardiac arrest on Thursday. Swanand Kirkire, a lyricist, singer, and screenwriter, took to Twitter on Friday to express his sadness over Singh’s death and recall his time working with her for Doordarshan.

Swanand revealed that it was she who brought him to the city of dreams and gave him his first writing job. “Manju ji brought me from Delhi to Mumbai to write her Doordarshan show Swaraj!” he wrote. Manju Singh was a pioneer in the Indian television industry, producing notable shows such as Swaraj, Ek Kahani, and Show Time. She was the host of the children’s show Khel Khilone for seven years, and was affectionately known as ‘didi.’ Singh also starred in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Gol Maal, in which she played Ratna.

On her shows, Singh discussed national, social, and cultural issues. She began her career as a television producer with Show Time in 1983. Ek Kahani, her show, was based on literary short stories from a variety of regional languages. Her docu-drama series Adhikar, which was based on women’s legal rights, was another show that was well-received by audiences across the country. She also hosted a spirituality show called Samyaktva: True Insight.

Singh has recently been involved with a number of international film festivals for children and young adults. She was nominated as a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) by the Indian government in 2015 in recognition of her contributions to the creative arts and education.

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