Actor and TV presenter Mandira Bedi’s filmmaker husband, Raj Kaushal, passed away on Wednesday, following a massive cardiac arrest. The couple’s friend, music composer Sulaiman Merchant, of the Salim-Sulaiman duo, has now opened up about his late friend’s health issues and what happened in the last minutes before Raj’s death.
Sulaiman, who has known Raj Kaushal and family for several years, visited Mandira to give his condolences on Wednesday evening. “Raj was feeling uneasy in the evening, he took an antacid tablet (then),” Merchant told ETimes.
He further continued, “Time rolled by into the night, and around 4 am, Raj felt more uneasy. Raj told Mandira that he was getting a heart attack. Mandira acted swiftly and called Ashish Chaudhary, who rushed to their place. Mandira and Ashish put him in the car but he was losing consciousness. I think they drove off, taking him to the Lilavati Hospital if I’m not wrong. But in the next 5-10 minutes, they realised that he had no pulse. Before they reached the doctor, it was too late.”
Sulaiman further shared that Raj had suffered a heart attack once before too. “I think he was 30-32 then. But they took a lot of care after that attack, and he’d kept fine since then.”
Sulaiman and Raj Kaushal were friends for more than 25 years, “I have lost a friend of 25 years. I knew him since the days he was assisting Mukul Anand on ‘Dus’. I had gone to his house once during the pandemic, many months back. Salim and I gave music to his first film Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi. It doesn’t get more shocking than this.”
Raj Kaushal, who made his directorial debut with Pyaar Mein Kabhie Kabhie (1999), also helmed films like Shaadi Ka Ladoo (2004) and Anthony Kaun Hai (2006). He died early morning on June 30th, after suffering a heart attack. He was 49. He is survived by his wife, Mandira Bedi, and two children.
His last rites were held at the Shivaji Park crematorium. Among those who attended the funeral were actors Ronit Roy, Ashish Chaudhari and Samir Soni.