Priya Tendulkar dead Indian television's favourite activist dies of cardiac arrest

Priya Tendulkar, best known as Rajni after the popular television serial directed by Basu Chatterjee, died of cardiac arrest at her residence at Prabhadevi in Mumbai on Thursday.

An occasional presence in Hindi films (Rajiv Rai's Gupt, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya), Priya was best known as a theatre personality, consumer activist and talk show hostess.

Her programme, The Priya Tendulkar Show, was immensely popular and won the Screen Videocon Award for Best Talk Show.

Daughter of one of India's foremost playwrights Vijay Tendulkar, Priya was known for her aggressive approach towards her guests in talk shows. She had done innumerable plays in Marathi (Pygmalion, Anji, Kamla, Kanyadaan, Sakharam Binder to name a few) and Gujarati films. Former husband Karan Razdan, also her screen husband in Rajni, directed the telefilm, Roshni.

Priya's own compilation of short stories, Jyacha Tyacha Prashna won the Damani Puraskar. Some of her other works are Janmalela Pratyekala, Asahi and Panchatarankit.

Asahi, a collection of the columns which she wrote for an eveninger, won the Sahitya Parishad Puraskar. Panchtarankit, a collection of essays, won the Delhi Katha Puraskar.

In an interview with Screen, Priya had stated that her childhood dream was to be Amrita Sher Gill or W Somerset Maugham, make a lot of money and travel a lot.

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