Mumbai

Veteran actor Tabassum, known for her work as a child artiste in many Hindi films and as host of popular Doordarshan talk show "Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan", died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday. She was 78 and is survived by her husband Vijay Govil, the elder brother of veteran TV star Arun Govil, and son Hoshang.

According to her family, Tabassum was under medication in a Mumbai hospital for the past few days. On Friday, she suffered two cardiac attacks and passed away in the night.

A prayer meeting in her memory will be held here Monday evening, the family informed. Born in 1944 in Mumbai to Ayodhyanath Sachdev and Asghari Begum, Tabassum began her career as a child artiste with the 1947 movie "Nargis".

Known in the film fraternity as 'Baby Tabassum', she went on to feature in many other movies such as "Mera Suhaag" (1947), "Manjhdhar" (1947) and "Bari Behen" (1949).

In the 1950s, Tabassum acted in movies such as "Sargam", "Sangram", "Deedar", and "Baiju Bawra".

She also had a minor role in the 1960 historical epic "Mughal-e-Azam", starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala.

After a few more films, Tabassum took up the job of the host of "Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan", which was Indian television's first talk show.She hosted the show from 1972 to 1993 during which she interviewed several big stars of the Indian film industry. She made her directorial debut with 1985 feature "Tum Par Hum Qurban".

Her last film was Rajesh Khanna and Govinda-starrer "Swarg" in 1990 in which she made a guest appearance.

In the 2000s, she appeared in a daily serial "Pyaar Ke Do Naam: Ek Raadha, Ek Shyaam".

She launched her own channel on YouTube, called "Tabassum Talkies" with son Hoshang where she discussed the lives of many cinema figures and movies of the bygone era.

In 2021, Tabassum spent 10 days in hospital after contracting COVID-19.