Khubsoorat actor Ranjit Chowdhry passes away in the US at 65

By Rashita Sahni

on April 16, 2020

Actor and writer Ranjit Chowdhry, best remembered for playing Rakesh Roshan’s younger brother in Rekha-starrer Khubsoorat, died on April 15 in the US. He was 65.

His half-sister and a well known Mumbai-based theatre personality Raell Padamsee broke the news on Instagram. Taking to the photo-sharing platform and posting a picture of Ranjit, she wrote, "For all those who knew Ranjit, the funeral will be held tomorrow and a gathering to celebrate his life n share his stories on May 5th. With love, Raell.”

View this post on Instagram

For all those who knew Ranjit, the funeral will be held tomorrow and a gathering to celebrate his life n share his stories on May 5th. With love, Raell.

A post shared by Raell Padamsee's Ace (@raellpadamseesace) on Apr 15, 2020 at 9:12am PDT

Soni Razdan mourned the loss, and wrote, “Omg I can’t believe this. So sorry Raell heartfelt condolences.”

Ranjit was the son of Mumbai theatre personality Pearl Padamsee and the stepson of ad film maverick, Alyque Padamsee, also remembered for playing MA Jinnah in Ben Kingsley’s Gandhi. After working in Khubsoorat, Ranjit had moved to the US in 1980, and also appeared in two episodes of the popular American show The Office.

Ranjit made his Hindi film debut with Khatta Meetha ( 1978, Basu Chatterjee) followed by Baaton Baaton Mein (1979, Basu Chatterjee) and Khoobsoorat (1980, Hrishikesh Mukherjee). Making an eye-catching start with these three similar roles of a likable kid brother, Ranjit did two distinctly different character roles in the art-house cult film Chakara (1981) and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Kaalia (1981).