Veteran television producer Manju Singh passes away of cardiac arrest

Veteran Hindi television presenter and actor Manju Singh passed away on Thursday due to cardiac arrest. Lyricist, singer, and screenwriter Swanand Kirkire took to Twitter to mourn Singh’s death. Swanand shared how she was the one who brought him to the city of dreams and gave him his first writing opportunity. He wrote, “Manju ji brought me from Delhi to Mumbai to write her show Swaraj for Doordarshan!”

Manju Singh was one of the pioneers in the Indian television industry who produced remarkable shows Swaraj, Ek Kahani, Show Time among others. Fondly called ‘didi’, she was the anchor of the children’s show, Khel Khilone which ran for seven years. Singh had also appeared in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Gol Maal, where she played the role of Ratna. Singh highlighted national, social and cultural issues on her shows. She started as a television producer in 1983 with Show Time. Her show Ek Kahani was based on literary short stories from several regional languages. Another show which was quite liked by the audiences across the nation was her docu-drama series Adhikar, which was based on women’s legal rights. She also dabbled with a show on spirituality called Samyaktva: True Insight.