'You left us too soon': Neena Gupta remembers late actor Shankar Nag with an old pic

Veteran actress Neena Gupta recently took to Instagram and shared a throwback picture from her early career days with co-actor Shankar Nag from the film Utsav. Directed by Girish Karnad and produced by Shashi Kapoor, Utsav also featured Rekha, Shekhar Suman, and Shashi. Neena remembered Shankar Nag through the old picture who passed away at the age of 35 in 1990 in a car crash.  Neena Gupta, who has shared many chapters of her life in her autobiography, Sach Kahun Toh, recalled her Utsav days in her latest Instagram post.

Neena Gupta remembers Shankar Nag with a throwback pic

While captioning the still from the film, she wrote, "A still from a beautiful film Utsav with Shankar nag miss you so much Shankar bohat jaldi chod gaye tum hamen (You left us too soon)." Actor Ramneek Pantal commented, "Looks like Shahruk khan from the profile." TV actor Sachin Shroff also wrote, "He was such a fine actor."  Fans of the late actor were also quick to pour in their love for the throwback picture while recalling his days in the entertainment industry. One of the users called him a ‘legend,’ while another wrote, “Yes...he left us way soon...Kannada film industry lost a gem!”  A third user chimed in and wrote, “Shankar Nag was such an amazing actor. He is a true legend.” Another echoed similar sentiments and called himself his cousin. “So true! A legend indeed... Consider myself blessed to be his cousin and having met him even though I was a child,” he wrote. 

The late actor Shankar started his career with Marathi theatre and went on to feature in many films. Some of the prominent films include 22 June 1897, Minchina Ota, and Auto Raja. Shankar Nag died at the young age of 35 in September 1990. In the popular film Utsav, Shankar Nag played the role of a thief while Neena Gupta essayed the role of a courtesan in Utsav, which also featured Rekha as Vasantsena, a popular courtesan in the ancient town of Ujjayini. 

Neena who recently launched her autobiography Sach Kahun Toh has mentioned that Girish Karnad ensured the actors befriended each other to avoid awkwardness while shooting a lovemaking scene. “There’s nothing like an actual sex scene on camera to forge a lifelong friendship,” she wrote in her book. Utsav is an adaptation of a ten-act Sanskrit drama attributed to an ancient playwright Sudraka, titled Mrcchakatika.

IMAGE: NEENA_GUPTA/Instagram/CINEMA_INDIA/Twitter