Charu was to get engaged in 10 days

Charu Khandal, the 28-year-old animator of Ra.One, had thrown a party on Saturday at a pub in Juhu Tara Road, a posh area in the western suburbs, after the team she headed for the film won a National Award for special effects.

Charu Khandal, the 28-year-old animator of Ra.One, had thrown a party on Saturday at a pub in Juhu Tara Road, a posh area in the western suburbs, after the team she headed for the film won a National Award for special effects.

That she was due to get engaged to her boyfriend, Sagar Thakar, a 29-year-old graphic designer, next month, gave her another reason to celebrate.

But the night turned tragic when a drunk driver rammed into the auto-rickshaw she was travelling in later that night, leaving her critically injured — and perhaps bedridden for life — at the city’s Kokilaben Ambani Hospital.

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Two others — Khandal’s sister Mona, 25, and a friend Vikrant Goyal, 26, — who were in the auto-rickshaw with her, were also injured in the accident.

“She was so full of life. There was never a moment when she would sit idle. For a person like that to be bedridden is unthinkable,” said a distraught Thakker.

Khandal’s parents, who arrived in the city from Jaipur on Sunday, are in a state of shock.

“She wanted to make it big and was getting there with the success of RA.One, until a drunk man rendered her bedridden for life,” said Mauli Singh, a friend.