Sarwat Gilani pays tribute to late friend Masooma

The actor remembered Masooma for spreading joy and love, ending her tribute with prayers for her family.

Actor Sarwat Gilani has shared an emotional tribute to her close friend Masooma, who passed away recently, describing her loss as one that has left a void that words cannot fill.
Announcing the news on Instagram, Gilani shared throwback photographs of the two alongside mutual friends, expressing her disbelief at the passing. “You left us too soon, my sweetheart. My dearest Masooma. It is impossible to believe that you are no longer with us. Waking up to the heartbreaking news of your passing has left a void that words cannot fill,” she wrote.
She remembered Masooma as someone with a rare ability to make people feel lighter, happier and loved, and closed the tribute with prayers for her friend’s family and loved ones.
Alongside the tribute, Gilani used her Instagram Stories to share a series of quiet but meaningful reflections on resilience, motherhood and the importance of cherishing time with the people we love. One story showed her praying and spending time with her children through activities including horse riding and painting. “Sit through the process. That’s where life teaches you that the best things are never free. They are built with patience, hard work, sacrifice, resilience and time,” she wrote.
She also reflected warmly on motherhood, describing her firstborn as the beginning of a journey that changes you forever. In another story, Gilani shared a photograph from a visit to a local school, where a young girl’s unexpected generosity shifted her perspective entirely. “I thought I had come to give. Instead, a little girl with almost nothing taught me that generosity is not born from abundance. It comes from the heart,” she wrote.
She concluded the series with a photograph of herself riding a horse alongside one of her children, accompanied by the thought that the greatest inheritance a parent can leave is not wealth but the passions passed from one generation to the next.
Taken together, the posts painted a picture of someone navigating loss while holding onto what remains, family, faith, presence and the small moments that carry the most meaning. They also reflected a quality in Gilani that her followers have come to recognise over the years, a willingness to be honest about difficulty while remaining anchored in gratitude.
Gilani has spoken before about coping with personal loss. Earlier this month, she honoured both her late father, Syed Feroz Shah Gilani, and her late father-in-law, Dr Zubair Mirza, in a Father’s Day tribute, remembering the men who shaped her family.