Filmmakers Sanjay Gupta and Rakesh Roshan reminisce working with actor-writer Ranjit Chowdhry
MID-DAY (April 17, 2020)

Actor-director-writer Ranjit Chowdhry, 65, passed away in Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital on Thursday morning. Survived by his wife and 16-year-old son, Chowdhry was in Mumbai for a dental treatment since December. He was expected to fly back on April 8. "He ruptured an ulcer in the intestine on April 14 and was taken to the hospital. They operated on him but he died yesterday at four in the morning," informs socialite Dolly Thakore.

Director Sanjay Gupta, who last worked with him in Kaante (2002), told mid-day, "As an actor, I was extremely fond of him. He flew down from New York to Los Angeles to work with us in Kaante. We needed an actor who could translate scenes effortlessly. I remember discussing Khatta Meetha (1978) with him. That is one of my favourite movies of his and I loved his performance. He is a thoroughly professional actor with a great command over comic timing. Only an actor like him could shine in a brief role in an ensemble film like Kaante. I always remember him as this jovial man, full of energy and life."

Rahul Khanna, his co-star from Bollywood/Hollywood helmed by Deepa Mehta, tweeted, "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!" Rakesh Roshan who worked with Chowdhry in Khoobsurat (1980) told mid-day, "I remember Ranjit as a loveable young boy who was adored by all. He was a natural actor. I was immensely sad to hear about him."

Chowdhry's half-sister Raell Padamsee wrote on Instagram, on Wednesday, "For all those who knew Ranjit, the funeral will be held tomorrow and a gathering to celebrate his life n share his stories May 5."

His Best Works
Khatta Meetha (1978)
Baton Baton Mein (1979)
Khubsoorat (1980)
Kaalia (1981)
Bandit Queen (1994)
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996)
Bollywood/Hollywood (2002)
Kaante (2002)
American Blend (2006)
Prison Break (2006)
Breakaway (2011)

As told to Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 11, 2019)

I started off as a video jockey with Disney Channel. I was just 13 then, still in school and super excited to be picked by a leading American channel which had just launched in India. I was their first VJ and I shot for my show, Big Bada Boom, the Indian version of Studio Disney. It was a show-within-a-show with interviews of Bollywood celebs. Both the director and channel knew that I was a professional singer, having sung at competitions and operas since I was seven and that was important for the show. They asked me a few questions and then, before I knew it, I was on board.

My co-hosts were Zain Khan and Murtuza Kutianawala. We shot in Mumbai during the summer holidays. I didn’t tell anyone in school about the show but to my amazed delight, after the summer vacation everyone knew about it and wanted to be photographed with me and were asking for my autograph. That was fun!

I went on to act in some Disney sitcoms which were adaptations of their famous US shows like The Suite Life Of Karan (right; above) and Kabir and Oye Jassie. Interestingly I met Farah Khan who choreographed the “Hook-Up Song” for my debut film, Punit Malhotra’s campus caper, Student Of The Year 2, during one of my early stints on television on a talent hunt show. I was around 12 or 13 when I entered what I thought was a school singing contest. It ended up becoming a televised show (Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega; left). I was surprised but I ended up singing on the show which had Farah as a judge. When I met her on the sets of the SOTY sequel I reminded her of our first encounter and admitted that it was nice working with her again 10 years later.

Three years later, when I was 16, I met the Padamsees — Alyque and Raell—who were really big in the theatre circuit. I was a huge theatre buff myself and Raell was making one of my favourite musicals, Grease. The Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey stage production was named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as ‘greasers’. Set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School, it revolved around 10 working class teenagers as they struggled with the complexities of peer pressure, politics, personal core values and love. The score borrowed heavily from early rock n’ roll.

Raell asked me if I knew about Grease, because it was way before my time. It was first performed in 1971 in a Chicago nightclub and even the screen adaptation opened in 1978. When I told her I did, she asked me to sing a song from it. I complied, she liked my rendition and I was on board for the play. I worked with her for two-three years and we did many successful seasons of the production.

Among one of my first jobs, I also remember recording a song for Aamir Khan’s directorial debut Taare Zameen Par and another for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish. All this happened when I was really young. I was part of the background score for both films. I got paid for all these assignments. I’ve always been wise with my money and invest it well besides enjoying it.