Mumbai, Feb 20 (IANS): Vaquar Shaikh, who has worked with the late actor Rituraj Singh in the 1993 show 'Banegi Apni Baat' (BAB) reminisced about the beautiful memories from the sets of the show, calling him a 'huge star'.

Vaquar, who is currently playing Rituraj's on-screen brother in the show 'Anupamaa' said that he was shaken by the news of his demise.

Rituraj passed away at the age of 59 in the wee hours of Tuesday, due to cardiac arrest.

Expressing grief over the demise of the senior actor, the 'Chandrakanta' fame said: "I don't know what to say. I'm actually quite speechless to speak about him. It's quite shocking. I'm actually saddened, I'm nervous, and I'm at a loss for words."

He further revealed that the late actor was called Ritz by his friends, and talked about working with him in BAB.

"He (Rituraj) was, of course, doing the show right from the beginning. I joined after three years. I have beautiful memories because I remember going on the set and meeting this actor who was a huge star then because of his telefilms that had already been released, and we used to really look up to him. And, when BAB started, everyone in the show used to be a huge star," he said.

'Banegi Apni Baat' starred actors like -- Irrfan Khan, Shefali Shah, Firdaus Dadi, Anita Kanwal, Varun Badola, Rakhee Tandon, and R Madhavan.

Vaquar further said: "He was very courteous, sweet, generous, and very nice to people like me, who had just joined the show. He was very helpful and instantly would make you feel at ease. Now that I'm talking about him, I so distinctly remember his smile, which used to brighten up and be full of energy and vigour and forever helpful and very knowledgeable. He knew about everything under the sun at that point in time."

He also regrets not being able to shoot even a single scene with Rituraj, even though he was playing his younger brother in 'Anupamaa'.

"It’s quite ironic that I entered 'Anupamaa' playing his younger brother, but I didn't shoot with him, not even for a single day, which is very strange," he said.

The 'Saaya' actor added: "I wish I had at least one scene with him because that would have been really nice. I would have worked with him after nearly more than two decades. But I should have had at least one scene with him."