Filmmaker-actor Neeraj Vora no more, Firoz Nadiadwala mourns loss of 'brother and friend'

Bollywood actor-director Neeraj Vora died aged 54 Thursday after battling with serious illness.

Succumbing to illness, Vora had been in the state of coma for last one year.

Producer friend Firoz Nadiadwala announced the death of his 'brother and friend' --whom he had known for 12 years. In a statement, Nadiadwala said,"He passed away at 4 am on Thursday. I've lost the battle to save my brother and friend from the clutches of death. His health had improved so much. But it deteriorated suddenly on Friday."

He added, ""He had to be shifted to hospital. But it was no use. We lost him."

When Vora had been in coma for the previous year, Nadiadwala took care of all his medical expenses. As disclosed by Nadiadwala himself, Vora occupied a special room in former'sbungalow where the ailing writer-director was attended to by a fleet of medical experts, nurses, dieticians and well-wishers.

Nadiadwalasaid: "It was one year on October 19 since I got Neeraj to my home in Mumbai from AIIMS in Delhi where the doctors had declared he would be dead in a few hours.

"Quite frankly, I don`t know what powers made me do what I did. I couldn`t leave him to die. He had nobody to look after him. Neeraj did have a brother. But he was financially incapable of shouldering the responsibility, he added.

Staying on Vora's side while he fought with illness, Nadiadwala revealed, "As I said, the doctors at AIIMS had given up on him. I don`t know what got into me. I immediately hired an air ambulance to bring Neeraj from Delhi to Mumbai. "I have to confess my heart was in my mouth. If Neeraj had passed away during that journey from Delhi to Mumbai, or even after landing, I would have been in serious legal and moral trouble."

"Luckily, God was on my side. He willed that Neeraj live and I be the tool to save his life. I sincerely believe we are all instruments of God brought on earth to do His will," he added.

Vora had started to recover.

"I had set aside a room in my house for him. That was his home for the past one year. The room has pictures of his parents. His father, a classical musician, used to play Veena. We had that music playing in his room.

"We had Hanuman Chalisa recited for him... All that was familiar to Neeraj was there for him. Plus, there were four attendants -- two each for the day and night shifts -- to look after him round the clock, a dietician, neuro-surgeons, a cook who lives closeby and cooks all the special food that Neeraj has to be fed through his stomach.

"Under all this care, Neeraj was slowly recovering. And now, he is gone," Nadiadwala said.