The last year has been extremely eventful for veteran actress Mala Sinha, who has been missing from Mumbai for a major part of the year. She says she misses being in front of the camera, but has no regrets.

The actress who regaled audiences in a slew of superhits in the 1960s and early 1970s , says she was honoured for her contribution to Nepali and Indian cinema at a function in Kathmandu in August 2017.

“It was basically an event to honour the people associated with ‘Maati Ghar’, the first Nepali film that was released 51 years ago. The film starred me and my future husband C P Lohani. We met and fell in love during the making of this film,” she said.

Ever since the making of ‘Maati Ghar’, Mala and her husband have shared a long-distance marriage.

“He stays in Kathmandu. I visit him and sometimes he visits me. Because of this function honouring Maati Ghar I got a chance to be in Nepal with my husband for four months. I even celebrated my birthday (on November 11, 2017) in Nepal this time.”

On a more somber note, Mala lost her mother in April 2017.

“She was ailing for the last 11 years. She was constantly in and out of hospitals. I looked after her as best as I could. But she was very old and she had to go. We all have to go one day. But I miss her,” said the actress, who has been too busy looking after her mother to keep up with her contemporaries like Waheeda Rehman, Vyjayanthimala and Asha Parekh.

“Some of them like Nanda and Sadhna are gone. I regret not meeting them more often when they were alive. Now it is too late. Sometimes while being a good wife, a good daughter and a good mother, a woman forgets to be good to herself.”

Mala has fond memories of her contemporaries and co-stars like Biswajeet, with whom she did more than a dozen films.

“We don’t meet much. But when we do, we meet with a lot of warmth. I miss being in front of the camera. For 20 years, I did nothing but work work work. Then it stopped. I got married, my daughter was born. My life changed. But no complaints,” said the actress, whose performances in Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, B R Chopra’s Gumrah and Yash Chopra’s Dhool Ka Phool are remembered to this day.

Her daughter Pratibha tried her hand at acting. But failed.

“Pratibha now loves animals. She has begun looking after stray animals. If you come to our home, you will see dogs and cats everywhere. It’s a house filled with action. I like that.”