Taruni Sachdev

Taruni Sachdev (14 May 1998– 14 May 2012) was an Indian model and child actress, best known for her work in television advertisements and films. She made appearances in Rasna advertisements and the Bollywood film Paa (2009), playing Amitabh Bachchan's classmate. She was well popular among the Malayali audience for her portrayal of Ammukutty in Vellinakshatram (2004 film).

Personal life

Taruni Sachdev was born in Mumbai to a city-based industrialist, Haresh Sachdev and his wife Geeta Sachdev. She did her schooling at Bai Avabai Framji Petit Girls High School in Bandra, Mumbai. Taruni's mother was a congregation devotee member at the Radha Gopinath Temple of ISKCON (Hare Krishna movement), Mumbai. Taruni also performed in dramas at the temple festivals.

Taruni acted in several television advertisements for products such as Rasna, Colgate, ICICI Bank, Reliance Mobile, LG, Coffee Bite, Gold Winner, Shakti Masala and Star Flush Dreams. She was one of the busiest child models in the industry and has acted along with Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan in the Hindi film Paa (2009). She also starred in two Malayalam films: Vellinakshtram (2004) and Sathyam (2004). She was the highest paid child artist of her time. She also acted in some serials as a child, including in the Tamil serial Metti Oli in Sun TV Tamil as Seetha'sdaughter, Mamini Kutty, from episode 712 till the end. She also acted In the Hindi serial Sasural Simar Ka as Durgarani. After her death, her role in the Hindi serial was replaced with Ruhanika Dhawan.

Taruni Sachdev died in the Agni Air Flight CHT plane crash in Nepal, on 14 May 2012, her 14th birthday. Taruni's mother Geetha Sachdev, who accompanied her on the flight also died.Before Taruni left on 11 May 2012 for the Nepal trip, she hugged all her friends, saying, "I'm meeting you guys for the last time". Though it was a light-hearted joke, according to her classmates, Taruni had "never hugged her friends or sent them goodbye messages before leaving for any of her earlier trips..."The last message Taruni sent to her best friend before boarding the flight was jokingly asking what would happen if the plane crashed?, followed by "I love you." Her friends believe that it was written in her destiny to die on that plane. Both father and son and her Paa costars, Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan expressed their sorrow over her death.