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Remembering charismatic Heer Raanjha actor Priya Rajvansh on her 22nd death anniversary
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“Betaab dil ki tamanna yahi hai
Tumhein chahenge
Tumhein pujenge
Tumhein apna Khuda banaayenge…”
Kaifi Azmi’s lines composed by Madan Mohan for Hanste Zakhm speak of a love that borders on devotion, on deification. It also sums up the late Priya Rajvansh’s relationship with mentor and filmmaker Chetan Anand. Priya Rajvansh was an interesting paradox. Exotic in appearance and elegant in bearing, the RADA trained actor was sought after by filmmakers Raj Kapoor and even Satyajit Ray. But she chose to remain exclusive to Chetan Anand, limiting her promise and possibilities.
Unencumbered by convention, as the two never married, hers was a relationship solemnized by stanch commitment. Her world began and ended with Chetan. Be it contributing to his films or looking after his upkeep and health. So much so that the ‘shack’, where they once hosted stimulating soirees with a mélange of minds, continued to be her sanctuary at sundown long after Chetan passed away. And it was at this seaside chalet that she was reportedly was strangulated to death on 27 March 2000… Decoding Priya Rajvansh on her 22nd death anniversary…
THE ACTOR
Priya Rajvansh was born as Vera Singh to Sikh father, Sunder Singh, and Punjabi mother Sharda in Jhelum (now Pakistan) on 30 December, 1939. The family moved to Shimla after the Partition. She grew up with her brothers, Kamaljit Singh (Gulu) and Padamjit Singh (Bill), who later repositioned to the UK and the USA respectively. Priya was a bright student at the Auckland House School. Keen towards acting, her first play was the award-winning World Without Men. She continued her education at St. Bede’s College and performed in English plays at Shimla’s Gaiety Theatre.
As destiny would have it, Uma Anand (late director Chetan Anand’s late wife) brought Priya into her filmmaker husband’s life. Uma saw Priya perform at a function in Chandigarh. Impressed, she gave Chetan’s contact to Priya. But Priya soon left for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Notably, she’s the only Indian actress from RADA. Hers is the only photograph framed there.
Eventually, Chetan came across Priya’s photographs. In her classic countenance, he had found his ‘Heer’. Chetan, who had a commendable record with films Neecha Nagar (winner of the Grand Prix Award at the Cannes film festival in 1946), Taxi Driver (1954) and Funtoosh (1956), asked Priya to fly down to Bombay. Apparently, he personally went to the airport to receive her. She was in her 20s, while he was her senior by around 16 years.
Heer Ranjha, an ambitious project, took a while to roll. Meanwhile, Chetan signed Priya for a lead role in Haqeeqat (1964), based on the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Priya played Angmo — a half-Kashmiri and half-Ladakhi girl, her statuesque silhouette suiting the character. Lata Mangeshkar’s Zara si aahat hoti hai, filmed on her, remains memorable.
Eventually, Chetan separated from Uma. Priya played the tragic Heer, the celluloid version of Waris Shah’s classic poem Heer (1766) with Raaj Kumar as the legendary Ranjha in Heer Raanjha (1970). Kaifi Azmi wrote the screenplay in verse, while Madan Mohan’s set to tune the iconic numbers Milo na tum toh hum ghabraye, Meri duniya mein tum aaye, Yeh duniya yeh mehfil and Do dil toote. By the time Heer Raanjha was completed, Priya and Chetan had drawn close.
In Hanste Zakhm (1973), Priya played the deeply-in-love prostitute Chanda. Lata Mangeshkar’s Aaj socha toh aansoo bhar aaye and Betaab dil ki tamanna yahi hai and Mohammed Rafi’s Tum jo mil gaye ho… a Madan Mohan-Kaifi Azmi album captured the vibe of love and lament fundamental to the narrative.
Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973) saw Priya in a double role as Indian intelligence scout Mohini and Tahira, the fiancée of a PAF pilot. The tracks Hai tere saath meri wafa and Har taraf ab yahi afsane hai once again celebrated the Madan Mohan-Kaifi Azmi chemistry. Chetan’s 1977 release, Saheb Bahadur, paired Priya opposite Dev Anand.
The reincarnation drama, Kudrat (1981), had her play Karuna, a lawyer, who comes to know of her father’s (Raaj Kumar) deplorable past. The image of Karuna, playing the piano as she’s engulfed by the flames, is a gooseflesh moment. Priya’s last film was Haathon Ki Lakeeren (1986).
All of Priya’s seven films in her 22-year career were with mentor Chetan. Though she was panned for her inert dialogue delivery, her presence was striking. An artiste by instinct, she was involved in every aspect of filmmaking from the story, scripting (co-wrote the scripts of Hanste Zakhm and Kudrat) to the post-production of Chetan’s films. Uncannily, her characters died in all the films, except in Hindustan Ki Kasam.
THE WOMAN
Chetan and Priya seemed content without the commitment of marriage. Through time Chetan grew completely dependent on her, whether it was regarding his pills or his films. “At one point, marriage did cross her mind. ‘Let the boys (sons Ketan and Vivek from Uma) grow up’ was Chetan saab’s stance. He kept putting it off. Later, she accepted the situation because the two had become great friends,” revealed scriptwriter and friend Moin Beg (has written Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming Heera Mandi) in a throwback interview (Filmfare).
“We used to tell Priya she must do something for herself and not be involved so much with the man she loved. She’d say that she couldn’t see beyond Chetan saab. She was completely devoted to him,” said writer Hasan Kamaal (rediff.com), who worked with Chetan on Haathon Ki Lakheeren and the television serial Paramveer Chakra.
Apart from this old-world sense of commitment, Priya was ‘true blue royalty’ given her punctuality and sense of decorum. The late Maharaja Virbhadra Singhji and the late Maharani Brijraj Nandini Devi of Bhavnagar were Chetan’s neighbours at Ruia Park in Juhu. They spent many evenings together. Maharani Samyukta Kumari, ex-daughter-in-law of the royals, was close to Priya and recalled her as ‘a complete romantic’ and ‘a voracious reader’.
Reportedly, Priya owned a flat in Kalumal Estate and a house in Mangal Kiran in the vicinity. But every afternoon she’d go over to Chetan Anand’s ‘shack’ in Ruia Park, which she’d aesthetically designed. She’d have lunch with Chetan, discuss work and then return to her Mangal Kiran apartment at 4 pm. Then again, at 8 pm, Chetan’s car would pick her up. She’d have dinner with him at the shack and leave. When Chetan fell sick (he was asthmatic), Priya nursed him day and night. She grew increasingly lonely after his demise in 1997.
THE TRAGEDY
Priya inherited a part of the Ruia Park ‘shack’, along with Chetan’s sons Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand. Reportedly, she asked them to buy her out if they didn’t want to sell it. ‘I want to live and travel the world,’ she’d say. Allegedly, the property became a bone of contention.
“All that Chetan saab had left her was one Reza painting and a diamond ring, which she always wore. I’d describe Priya in three words – trusting, extremely loyal and in some ways stupid. Her loyalty and love for Chetan took her to the shack every evening even after his demise,” said music connoisseur and friend Bobby Sethi in a past chat (Filmfare).
Uncannily, an evening before she died, Priya called friend Moin Beg home. Reportedly, she showed him where she’d kept her bank papers and locker keys. She even showed him the ornaments, which she had kept in a porcelain Ganpati placed high on the wall unit. She wanted those to be given to her brothers’ children.
On March 27, 2000, Priya was supposed to spend the evening at the Maharani’s home. When she didn’t turn up, they sent for her. They were told that she’d fainted in the bathroom. The family rushed across only to find she was no more. Initially, it was reported that Priya had died of a ‘heart attack’ and that she had consumed a huge amount of alcohol, being in depression after Chetan’s death. However, the post-mortem reportedly stated ‘asphyxia due to strangulation’.
The police charged Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand along with their employees Mala Choudhary and Ashok Chinnaswamy with her murder, the motive allegedly being Chetan’s bungalow, one-third of the sale proceeds of which were bequeathed to Priya in Chetan’s will.
Reportedly, two years later, in 2002, Mala and Ashok, were convicted of the murder, while Vivek and Ketan were convicted for plotting to murder. Later, the four moved the Bombay High Court in 2002 against the verdict. They were granted bail. In 2011, the High Court accepted the appeals filed by the Anand brothers against their guilty verdict.
“Chetan Anand was the man who made Priya and… marred her… He was the biggest tragedy that could ever happen to her. Chetan would never allow Priya to be directed by anyone else. That affected her career… Time was passing Priya by but she could never hear its footsteps. My sister’s only problem was her sense of over commitment to Chetan. She lived with him and his inclinations for over 30 years,” late brother Kamaljit Singh (Gulu) reportedly told The Tribune (Chandigarh) in 2002 summing up his sister’s heartbreaking journey.
Having grown up in the North, Priya often mentioned the Church of St John in Wilderness in Upper Dharamsala to Maharani Samyukta Kumari. In a moving gesture, Maharani Samyukta and her family built a memorial for Priya on her birthday (December 30) in bid to put her ‘soul to rest’. A metaphoric return to her roots indeed!
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