Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; April 19, 2020)

Actor-producer Anuraag Malhan, who has featured in the TV show Seth Ji and has also backed and acted in a short film, lost his father on April 14. While losing a parent is devastatingly painful, what has added to Anuraag’s grief is the fact that he couldn’t perform his dad’s final rites.

He tells BT, “My father, who had served the Indian Navy, was suffering from tuberculosis for the past one month. Though he was recovering, he suddenly passed away around 2 am on April 14. Due to the Coronavirus lockdown, I decided to drive down to Delhi and left from my Mumbai home around 2.30 am. However, when I reached the Valsad (Gujarat) checkpost around 6 am, the police stopped me. When they asked me to furnish some document as proof, I told them that the death certificate would be issued only later. I also showed them the messages on my phone, but they were not convinced. Finally, I was forced to return to Mumbai.”

He adds, “My brother performed the last rites and I will always regret the fact that I could not be there for my father’s final journey. It hurts that I was not with my family when they needed me the most.” The actor-producer is now waiting for the situation to improve so that he can be with his family as soon as possible.