MUMBAI: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says a lot of personal memories went through his mind as he sat besides the body of late Yash Chopra at the Yash Raj Studios here. The filmmaker deserved to stay longer with the Bollywood fraternity, he says.

“An association of 44 years abruptly comes to an end. He went away too soon and too suddenly. He deserved to be with us longer. Yash Chopra, a friend first, a creative legend later, has passed away this (Sunday) evening in the late hours,” Amitabh wrote on his blog srbachchan.com.

“As I sit beside his still and flower-decked body in his studio within the portals of the large common patio, there does not pass a moment when all that we shared flashes by. This colossal studio that he built after years of hard work and labour, shall for the next day, house his last physical remain.

“I doubt if he had ever dreamt that this unique and most distinguished facility would find space to accommodate him in the state that we see him today,” he added.

Amitabh, who worked with Chopra in films like “Kabhi Kabhie”, “Silsila” and “Trishul”, recalled that he last met the filmmaker on his own 70th birthday celebrations.

“I last saw him on my birthday celebrations. He was indisposed and the doctors advised him rest, but he was insistent on coming over. He had made a commitment he said,” wrote Amitabh.

“He had been asked to speak, one among four others that did that evening, over the sit-down dinner. His words still ring in my ear and what remains are the resonance of his goodness and feeling that he exuded towards me,” he added.

However, Amitabh has one regret.

“For some months lately, he had been calling and telling me to drop by in the early hours of the morning as I returned from the gym for ‘just a chat – no work, no issues, just a chat’. I had promised him that I would, and I never was able to,” wrote Big B.

Chopra passed away Sunday evening at the Lilavati Hospital following multiple organ failure. He was 80, and was admitted to hospital after he was diagnosed as having dengue.