'Going to work with Deven Verma was like going to a picnic'

'Deven Verma was a good friend, a good actor and a very good human being,' Aruna Irani tells Patcy N.

The brilliant Deven Verma succumbed to kidney failure in the early hours of December 2.

Veteran actress Aruna Irani had worked with the actor in almost 20 movies, including Angoor, Buddha Mil Gaya, Bhago Bhut Aaya, Professor Ki Padosan and Dil Toh Pagal Hai.

The actress pays tribute to him:

Deven Verma came into the film industry before me.

I had seen one of his films. I liked his work; his comedy was special.

Then I started working with him.

I have done a lot of movies with him. It was like going to a picnic with him, itna masti mazak karte they woh (he would be so entertaining). It was good time pass.

Everyone has to leave one day. Is there anyone who is not going to go (gets emotional). I pray that God makes more and more people like Deven Verma.

He was a good friend, a good actor and a very good human being.

I have not met Deven Verma for more then 20 years now (Their last film together is 1997's Dil Toh Pagal Hai).

He stopped working in films, as not everyone can handle the changing times. It is very difficult. Some people adjust and some don’t. People, who have to work, manage somehow.

I have not done movies in the last 15 years. I started working in television but he did not.

I offered him a role when I was producing a TV serial. He turned it down, saying it would be difficult for him to travel to Mumbai from Pune (Deven Verma shifted to Pune in 1993).

Plus, he thought today’s youth are different; they have their own ways. He could not take it. He would tell me he did not want to get disturbed in life.

Gulzar's Angoor is my favourite film that we did together. Deven played my husband. We had good chemistry. He was a good friend. Even his wife Rupa was a good friend.