During his retirement, Opee stayed in touch with only a few select friends. Gajendra Singh and Ahmed Wasi were two among them. Gajendra Singh included Opee as a judge for his successful TV show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. Ahmed Wasi interviewed Opee twice for Vividh Bharati and presented his life-sketch through six hour-long episodes collectively titled as Mujhe Yaad Sab Hai Zaraa Zaraa.
For some years before his death, Opee had been estranged from his family members to the extent that he had requested that they be not allowed to attend his funeral. Following the estrangement, he had moved out of his house at Marine Drive in Mumbai (Bombay), leaving his family behind, and moved as an adopted father with the Nakhwa family, residents of Thane (West)
Opee died on January 28, 2007 through cardiac arrest. He is survived by his wife, three daughters, and a son.
On his death, tributes came from many prominent Bollywood figures, including Lata Mangeshkar, B R Chopra, Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Mahesh Bhatt, Khayyam, Shakti Samanta, Sonu Nigam, Ravindra Jain, and Anu Malik.
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