It was a sombre Saturday morning, when a host of Bollywood personalities attended the prayer meet for Sonu Nigam’s deceased mother. Noted Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam, best known for his soulful renditions like ‘Abhi Mujhme Kahin’ from ‘Agneepath’ and ‘Suraj Hua Maddham’ from ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum’ was grief-stricken as he attended the funeral of his mother, Shobha Nigam, who passed away recently, after a prolonged illness. Seen at the prayer meet were TV stars like Manasi Joshi Roy, TV anchor Manish Paul, singer Pankaj Udhas, Bollywood director David Dhawan, actress Divya Dutta, Poonam Dhillon, and many others. Shilpa Shetty too rushed in to support her grieving friend Sonu during his time of loss.

Also seen was Sonu’s family, including his young son Nevaan. Earlier last week, Sonu had spoken to a leading daily about his bond with his mother, and how he considered her his queen. Said Sonu, who was distraught at his mother’s ailing condition at the time, “For the last few months since she was unwell, I would just hold her hand and start crying.” Speaking about the unique passion they both had for singing, Sonu had said: “She was a professional singer, but would also do all the household work and look after me. She is my queen. Recently, I made her sing with me on stage in one of the concerts in LA and I made her listen to that recording.”

“Starting from the second half of last year, it has been a difficult period for me be it my mother’s health or complications in my personal life. I had no other escape other than my work. Before every show I would call my mother and say ‘Mummy I don’t know how I will sing today’. But that would change as soon as I went on stage and would merge with my music. She is my best ally and I don’t want to lose her,” said an emotional Sonu, as he spoke about how it’s been a tough time for the family since his mother took ill.