Zakir Hussain Death: Shabana Azmi Slams Media For Coverage Of Tabla Maestro's Demise: "What Is This Rush?"

Veteran actor Shabana Azmi on Wednesday called out media organisations for "rushing" into publishing unconfirmed reports of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain's death. Azmi, who co-starred with Hussain in the 1997 film "Saaz", expressed her displeasure about the coverage around the illustrious percussionist's passing in an Instagram Story.

"What is this rush to put out news on social media before confirming it. I'm deeply saddened by how… RIP Zakir Hussain," she wrote. Unconfirmed reports of Hussain's death started doing rounds on social media on Sunday evening with many celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, Nimrat Kaur, Riteish Deshmukh, and Anupam Kher falling prey to speculation. At the time, Hussain's sister Khursheed told PTI that her brother was "very critical" but was "very much breathing at the moment". The family on Monday morning confirmed that Hussain died in a San Francisco hospital due to complications arising out of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 73.