A day after the death of actor-comedian Raju Srivastava, actor Amitabh Bachchan dedicated a blog post in memory of his “colleague, friend and a creative artist”. He also revealed he had sent a voice recording to Srivastava while the latter was admitted at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Bachchan wrote in his blog on Thursday, “A sudden ailment and gone before time .. before his creativity time completion .. each day in the morning with him in spirit and information from near ones .. (sic)” He added, “His sense of timing and the colloquial humour of his birth shall remain with us .. it was unique , open frank and filled with humour .. he smiles from the Heavens now and will be the reason for mirth with the God’s .. (sic)”

Last month, reports had claimed that Bachchan had sent a voice recording to Srivastava’s family, which was played for the actor-comedian while he was still in coma. An India Today report had claimed the message was, “It’s enough Raju. Rise up Raju, and keep teaching us all to laugh.”

In the latest blog, Bachchan confirmed sending the recording and revealed that Srivastava had even opened his eyes for a bit when it was played. He wrote, “They got advised to send a voice to awaken his condition .. i did .. they played it for him in his state in his ears .. on one instance he did open his eye a bit .. and then .. went away .. (sic)”.

Srivastava, who was an ardent Bachchan fan, had participated in the third season of the reality show Bigg Boss, which was hosted by the latter.

Srivastava, 58, died on Wednesday after 41 days of hospitalisation at AIIMS, where he was admitted following a heart attack. He was cremated in Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat on Thursday. His wife Shikha and son Ayushman were joined by comedians Sunil Pal and Ahsaan Qureshi, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar and singer Ram Shankar, among others who paid their last respects to the artiste.