She became a household name as the militant feminist Rajani fighting bourgeois rights in Basu Chatterjee’s celebrated serial on national television. But there was much more to Priya Tendulkar than met the eye.
Karan Razdan remembers former wife Priya Tendulkar on her death anniversary: “We loved each other and yet we were miserable together”
A fiery crusader, a television personality, actress and activist Priya Tendulkar, the daughter of the renowned Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar, was first seen on the large screen in 1974 in Shyam Benegal’s epoch-making arthouse crossover film Ankur. In it she played Anant Nag’s curious child-bride looking on uncomprehendingly as her husband undertook an illicit relationship with the maidservant.
The role and the performance didn’t fetch her any recognition. Priya never was particularly interested in the cinema. She was seen off and on in movies like Rajiv Rai’s Gupt, and then Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, where everyone noticed her pale and shadowy appearance. It later came to light that Priya was terminally ill while doing the film.
Her most memorable role in a commercial Hindi film was in Mukul Anand’s Trimurti in 1995. In this Subhash Ghai-produced film, Priya Tendulkar starred in the pivotal role of Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan’s mother. The film was scripted by Priya’s husband Karan Razdan.
But television remained her forte. Priya Tendulkar was one of the first actresses to bring a certain seriousness and social resonance to the home-viewing medium. Not only did she revolutionize the Indian soap with her role in Rajani, she also continued to make her presence felt on her current-affairs talk- shows, grilling hardened politicians with single-minded fervour. Viewers would also remember her as Marathi comedian Asok Saraf’s “dead” wife talking down to her husband from a photograph on the wall in the long-running sitcom Hum Paanch.
Husband Karan Razdan remembers her as an all-giving completely selfless woman. “Though she was ill. she conducted herself so passionately on her talk shows. I remember the happy times with her during the making of Rajani when we were falling in love. I was writing Rajani for Basu Chatterjee. We had prepared a pilot of the serial with Padmini Kolhapure. But she didn’t have the dates to do the serial when the pilot was sanctioned.”
He added, “Mr Chatterjee threw three names at me: Anita Raj, Bindiya Goswami (now Mrs J.P. Dutta) and Priya Tendulkar. I went with Priya’s name only because among the three, she was the only I had never met. The other two actresses had already had their innings in cinema. Of course, I knew Priya’s father, the eminent playwright Vijay Tendulkar. After Basu Chatterjee cast her, he turned to both of us and said, ‘Bhai aur koi tumhara pati mila nahin. Ab yehi tumhara pati hai.’ She laughed and so did I. I played Rajani’s husband, although it wasn’t much of a role. How was I to know that I’d soon become her real husband?”
Recalled Razdan, “I remember the time when Priya read my first script. She told me no one could understand the language of commercial cinema as well as me. We got married in 1988 What can I say about her? I just had to utter the words and she would make them come true. She was utterly dedicated in love and the most trusted friend I could have. I look back at my times with her as happy and carefree. When my dad died in 1998, I had to divide my time between Priya and my mother. Our marriage came under strain because of this. There were other reasons. Sometimes a person loves you so much she doesn’t give you space to breathe. I felt stifled. We would fight only because she was too much in love. And yes, she was possessive.”
He added, “Now when I look back, I can see that kind of love is so rare. For the nine years that I was with her, there was no question of Priya even glancing at another man. She was so much into our relationship. To leave her was the hardest decision of my life. But I had responsibilities towards my widowed mother which, to Priya’s credit, she tried to take on. But it was impossible to extend her love for me to include my mother. I remember how accommodating she tried to be with my family. When an uncle was ill in hospital, Priya would drive down when I couldn’t. But her possessiveness got the better of her. Priya couldn’t come to terms with sharing me with anyone else. And I can’t say my mother wasn’t to blame. We had some amazing times in her house with her family.”
“Priya was the bravest human being I know,” said Razdan. “And her energy level! I never ever saw her tired. She handled so many things at the same time. She had time for her father, brother, sisters, me and her profession. After we divorced, she didn’t want to keep in touch with me. For her, it was too painful to face me. I did try to re-establish contact with her. A few years ago at a party given by Sony television, she came up to me from behind and ruffled my hair. She said, ‘You don’t even say hello any longer?’ and she started crying. What could I say to her? I didn’t want her to go through any more hurt. No, my second wife wasn’t the reason for my breakup with Priya. We were having problems from long before. Mr Vijay Tendulkar saw both of us were suffering and miserable. He advised us to either see a counsellor or go for divorce. We loved each other and yet we were miserable together.”
He added, “In my film Roshni, there’re scenes from my relationship with Priya. I had heard she was ill for a few years. But what could I do? All doors were closed and I couldn’t reach out… I remember Priya as someone full of life and vitality. Whether she was happy or sad, she was completely consumed by that moment. I remember those pre-mobile days when we hadn’t started going around and she wanted to get in touch with me. My landline phone at home was on the blink. You know what she did? She left a message at my video library to call her up. The moment I called her up, and we met, we knew were meant to be together. Now that moment keeps coming back to me.”
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