Ranjit Chowdhry, best remembered as the zesty and sharp-witted youngster who looked always in need of a haircut in evergreen middle-class favorites such as
Khatta Meetha
and Khubsoorat, passed away at a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday. He was 64.
At a time when Asian faces were uncommon in the US entertainment industry, Chowdhry also built a moderately successful crossover career. Cosby, The Office, Prison Break, Law & Order, NYPD Blue were some of the popular TV serials he acted in.
The actor, who lived in
New York
with his wife and 16-year-old son, had come to India for dental treatment some months ago, theatre personality Dolly Thakore told PTI. He was scheduled to return on April 8 but had to stay back due to the lockdown.
“He got a ruptured ulcer in the intestine on April 14. A physician was called who said he needs to go to the hospital. They operated on him but he died at 4 am (on Wednesday). The funeral was held at 9.30 on Thursday with close family members in attendance,” Thakore told the news agency.
Chowdhry --- the son of theatre actor Pearl Padamsee and stepson of ad man
Alyque Padamsee
-- had the gift of standing out in a frame filled with actors. He tickled every funny bone with his hopeless karate-kicking act during the hilarious, in-house brawl in Khatta Meetha (1978). In Khubsoorat, when his disciplinarian mom asks why his hair is standing, his repartee is deadpan: “Dar se (out of fright).” And he was note-perfect as the young violinist who sings, “Uthey sab ke kadam dekho rum pum pum,” in
Baton Baton
Mein.
Even in roles that pushed him out of his comfort zone - the nose-picking slumdog in Chakra or the nasty porn-watching manservant in Deepa Mehta’s Fire – Chowdhry was equal to the task.
Amol Palekar, who starred with him in Baton Baton Mein, remembers Chowdhry as a cute, likeable young actor. “He was alive and keen to absorb suggestions. He was a livewire on the sets,” Palekar said in a message to TOI.
Pickings were slim, often stereotypical, in Hollywood films. But over the decades, the Mumbai-born actor built a decent resume. Chowdhry was a regular with two stellar NRI directors: Deepa Mehta and Mira Nair. He also wrote the screenplay of Mehta’s debut feature, Sam and Me, and essayed one half of the title part. He acted in Nair’s
Mississippi Masala
, The Perez Family and Kamasutra: A Tale of Love.
Reacting to his demise, actor Rahul Khanna tweeted, “Gutted to learn of #RanjitChowdhry’s passing. Despite his diminutive frame, he was a towering icon of Indian diaspora cinema and a master of his craft. By far one of the most endearingly quirky and acerbically witty people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. A true original!...Giving you a standing ovation & raising a toast to you, my friend!”
Palekar bemoaned, “Too soon to end the journey.” Few would disagree.
(With inputs from PTI)
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