It has been five years since we lost Pratyusha Banerjee. The actress, who rose to fame on TV with Balika Vadhu, was found dead on April 1, 2016. The news of her unfortunate demise had sent shockwaves across the television industry. Nobody saw it coming as Pratyusha was a young and talented actress, who was doing well in her career. She not only did fiction television shows but the actress had also participated in reality shows like Bigg Boss, Jhalak Dikhla Jaa and more.

That being said, people still remember Pratyusha as Anandi from Balika Vadhu. The way she pulled off her was appreciated well by her appreciated by the audience. Although she is no longer in this world, the actress is alive in the heart of her fans, friends and colleagues.

In a recent interview with Times Now Digital, Smita Bansal, who played Pratyusha’s mother-in-law in Balika Vadhu, recounted fond memories of the actress. Smita was seen as Sumitra in the serial. She told us that Pratyusha was her dear friend as well.

When we asked Smita about the fond memories she has of Pratyusha, the actress said, “Like I just said, she was so raw when she came into the industry. She was so ready to experiment with things, take advice from senior actors. She was a lovely, lovely girl. She was very friendly, full of energy, full of life and giving her 100 per cent. She was very pretty. I think she was extremely good for the show. She did brilliantly well.”

She also recounted the time she spent with Pratyusha off-screen. “Also because she was a very dear friend of mine, of course, we used to go out, she has come home so many times. So, of course, there are so many things which we miss when the person is gone,” added Smita.

Remembering Pratyusha, Smita stated that it is said that once the person is gone, only their fond memories come back and nothing else. Back in 2019, on Pratyusha’s third death anniversary, Smita had cherished the best days of her friendship with her and their Balika Vadhu co-star Neha Marda.

“Yaaron dosti badi hi haseen hai, yeh na ho toh kya phir bolo yeh zindagi hai, koi toh ho raazdaar , begaraz tera ho yaar… That night at #wtf, middle of the night you started humming this song, @nehamarda joined in, And then I joined in and we sang without caring who was listening n who wasn’t, den suddenly the three of us forgot the lyrics at the same point and burst out laughing,” a part of her note on Instagram read.

Meanwhile, Smita will be next seen in a teleplay Chanda Hai Tu.