For actor Varun Badola, the news of his Banegi Apni Baat (BAB) fellow actor Rituraj Singh’s death left him in a state of shock as he says Singh was more than just a colleague for him. “Even my wife did not break the news to me. I knew Rituraj as more than a co-actor. It’s shocking, too close for comfort,” says Badola, who received the tragic news a little late as he was travelling.

“I have seen Rituraj’s popularity and stardom. Sometimes, when someone departs, your world suddenly shrinks for unknown reasons,” adds Badola remembering Singh, who died of a cardiac arrest on February 20.

Though Badola and Singh appeared in separate tracks of the cult ’90s show, he got introduced to Singh post his stint in BAB. “It was a landmark show and Rituraj was the hero. We met at its after-parties and he was a huge [star] at that time. His stardom wasn’t restricted to TV. He was a global person, quite a live wire and one of the most promising actors who entered the industry at that time,” recalls Badola, 50.

Surprisingly, the actor’s favourite performance of Singh was from his theatre days. “Rituraj was already popular when (actor) Shah Rukh Khan joined Barry John’s theatre group. He did an English play titled Lend Me A Tenor. It was pretty flawless, and he was brilliant in it,” Badola concludes.