Meena Iyer (BOMBAY TIMES; March 26, 2014)

Two decades after her closest friend and beau Manmohan Desai passed away, yesteryear actress Nanda breathed her last at her home in Quarter Deck building, Versova, Mumbai, on Tuesday morning. She died of a massive heart attack.

 The 75-year-old actress was a spinster and a contemporary of Waheeda Rehman and Saira Banu. Shy to a fault, Nanda maintained a low-profile, especially after her engagement to filmmaker Manmohan Desai ended, when he died in 1994. Thereafter, the only ones who saw her regularly were her friends Waheeda and Saira.

Filmmaker Ketan Desai, who encouraged his father who was madly in love with Nanda to get engaged to her in 1992, was devastated when he heard the news this morning. Speaking to Bombay Times, as he drove to her funeral, Ketan said, “My wife Kanchan, our two girls and I are very saddened by the news. Kanchan and I had urged daddy to get engaged to Nandaji in 1992. We knew that they cared deeply for each other and thought it would be nice if they could spend the evening of their lives together. Unfortunately, dad passed away soon after their engagement. And the marriage was never to be.”

 Describing Nanda as one of the finest human beings he had ever met, Ketan continued, “She was soft-spoken and mild. And though I referred to her as ‘Nandaji’ initially, I would have eventually called her mummy. I was truly happy that my father loved her so deeply. And she was a perfect companion for him after my mother passed away. My wife and I truly regret the fact that she and dad got engaged, but didn’t have time enough to get married.”