MUMBAI: One of India’s first video jockey's, Sophia Haque has passed away. The ethereal girl who could dance and act was among those who ushered in the age of cable TV and international music to millions of Indians in the early 90s.
According to sources, she was taken to London hospital after suffering from pneumonia where she was detected with cancer. Reports state that she was admitted for close to a week and died peacefully in her sleep today.
Her cool and friendly demeanour and her knowledge of pop music as a VJ for MTV and Channel [V] made her a bonafide star with the country’s Gen X.
Apart from her stints on music channels, she acted in a number of West End productions like ‘Bombay Dreams’, ‘The Far Pavilions’, ‘Wah Wah Girls’. She also starred in ‘Coronation Street’ as ‘Poppy’ in 2008 and also performed a dance sequence in the film ‘Khoobsurat’ (1999).
Speaking about her to Radioandmusic.com, Haque’s former colleague and ex-VJ Luke Kenny said he first saw Sophia Haque with her band ‘Akasa’ on their ‘One Night In My Life’ video.
“I thought she was a beautiful girl and we hit off immediately. We shared a great camaraderie, same sun signs (Gemini) and we were music junkies. We worked relentlessly as VJs till she entered into a relationship with VJ Danny McGill. She went back to London and stage and we kind of lost touch till Facebook came along. We were connected via Facebook updating and wishing each other on important occasions.”
Celebrities took to Twitter to break the tragic news. Pooja Bhatt wrote, “Tragic news about Sophiya Haque. One of the most gorgeous women to have walked this planet... Shine on where-ever it is you now are luv...(sic).”
Even director Ken Ghosh expressed shock on the death of Haque and tweeted, “Just heard sad news of the passing away of the live wire ex vj of channel v, sophia haque(sic).”
Quizmaster Derek O’ Brien, too, tweeted about the same: “Sophia Haque was my guest on the Bournvita Quiz Contest in the mid 1990s... Vivacious,sexy,articulate.Gone too soon(sic)”