Actress-VJ Sohpiya Haque passes away in London

Indian actress and popular VJ Sophiya Haque died in a hospital here today. She was 41.

Haque was suffering from pneumonia and had been undergoing tests during which she is believed to have developed a clot in her lungs and passed away in her sleep.

The model-actress, who lived in London with her partner and musical director David White, had fallen ill just before Christmas and was diagnosed with cancer.

Haque, best known in India as a bubbly Channel V VJ, was a popular stage and television actress in Britain. She recently made her mark on prime-time TV as barmaid Poppy Morales on the well-known soap 'Coronation Street' and was in the midst of a West End production called Privates on Parade.

"Sophiya was a wonderful actress, a wonderful client but so much more than that a wonderful friend. She was adored by everyone she worked with and will be deeply missed," said her agent, Oliver Thomson.

He described Haque's relationship with White as "very happy" and the couple were in the process of building a houseboat together when she fell ill.

Haque hit the big league in Britain when she bagged the role of a Bollywood actress in the Andrew Lloyd Webber and AR Rahman musical Bombay Dreams.

This led to a number of plum roles in musicals, including as Janoo Rani in Far Pavilions and most recently as Soraya in Wah! Wah! Girls, described as a good-natured Bollywood musical by critics last year.

In Privates on Parade, which opened here last month, she was praised for

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