Mumbai, Dec 21: Teji Bachchan, wife of the late Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and mother of Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, died here Friday after a prolonged illness. She was 93.
Teji, who passed away around 1.15 p.m., was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in suburban Bandra in January for multiple age-related health problems.
Shortly after her passing, her body was taken to Amitabh`s old bungalow, Pratiksha, at Juhu. The family currently lives in the new bungalow Jalsa, barely a kilometre away, in the same area.
The funeral procession will start from there Saturday morning for the Chandanwadi electric crematorium in south Mumbai, around 20 km from the Bachchan home.
According to Bollywood sources, Teji was suffering from liver problems and also dementia, a disorder which leads to gradual memory loss. It is said that in her last few months she was unable to recognise even her family members.
The Bachchans decided to get her admitted to the hospital to ensure she could get top-class medical attention round-the-clock. She was under the care of a team of doctors led by J. Barve.
She was moved to the ICU last November in a critical condition but later recovered.
A steady stream of mourners, film stars, industrialists and politicians, visited Pratiksha to express condolences with the Bachchans. Among the visitors were Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and Sahara chief Subroto Roy.
Teji Bachachan was better known as a close confidante of the late prime minister Indira Gandhi.
She had earned fame as an indefatigable social activist and caught the attention of Indira Gandhi. A bond developed between them and they became close friends. The relationship remained strong till Indira`s assassination in October 1984.
The duo`s closeness came to the fore openly when Rajiv Gandhi was courting Sonia Antonio Maino, the shy young Italian girl. It was Teji who acted as a gentle mediator when her friend, the powerful Indira, was reluctant about her pilot son`s wedding with the Italian girl from a middle-class family.
When the Rajiv-Sonia marriage was finally fixed in 1969, Sonia and her family had nowhere to stay in New Delhi. As per Hindu customs, a betrothed girl cannot enter her in-laws` house before marriage.
Bureau Report
