For the uninitiated Ranjeeta Kaur, a Punjabi girl, beauty and earnestness took her from the classrooms onto Mumbai’s ‘Mecca’ of Hindi films ‘Bollywood’ in 70s. She did Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se and a string of roles that felt unpretentious yet unforgettable. She never wanted to be typecast. She collaborated Rishi Kapoor, Sachin Pilgaonkar and Mithun Chakraborty, and built a filmography that, while not studded with mega blockbusters, wasn’t short on sincere performances. Off camera, she chose a very different kind of life. United into wedlock with Raj Masand, turned mother to her son Sky, and for years lived in Norfolk, Virginia running a series of 7-Eleven stores with her family before moving back to Koregaon Park, Pune, where she balances privacy with purpose. There were quieter decades away from the spotlight following her last significant film Jaana Pehchana in 2011 and her mid-90s pause. But what stands out isn’t her absence, it’s choice, agency, resilience, and a life that didn’t have to prove itself to anyone.
Notably Ranjeeta wasn’t just a pretty face on celluloid; she was a woman who rewrote her own script, far beyond Bollywood’s frame.
News Edit KV Raman
