July 17, 2018
Veteran actress Shabana Azmi remembers the late Rita Bhaduri as a "cute and
impish" girl who was her friend, batchmate and closest competitor at the Film
and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune.
Upon Rita's demise on
early Tuesday, Shabana was inundated with calls asking her to share "thoughts"
on the late actress.
"There is something so matter of fact, almost cold
about this question, Your thoughts on Rita Bhaduri'. I am yet to fully
comprehend that my classmate from FTII passed away this morning. I'm on my way
to her house and the phone hasn't stopped ringing. Perfunctory questions... your
reactions please? How strange that I mentioned her in a piece I wrote on the
FTII days just three days ago," Shabana said.
They were in touch on a
Whatsapp group of FTII classmates.
"I got a message yesterday that her
condition was critical. She fell down at a shooting a month ago and injured her
spine. Unfortunately, she contracted an infection and had to undergo another
surgery. She was in excruciating pain because she was on dialysis and could not
be administered strong pain killers. And today she is gone," said Shabana.
They shared a close bond while in the film institute.
"With her go my
memories of an easy comradeship, much laughter and affection that comes from
living together. Although we didn't share a room at the FTII hostel, I was in
the habit of clambering into her bed on waking up.
"For as long as I can
remember I used to snuggle into my parents' bed first thing in the morning. When
I left home for FTII, it was Rita's bed I would tumble into, my eyes only
half-opened. There was something cute and impish about her.
"We used to
call her Tanuja (veteran actress) because of her effervescence. She was a good
student, my closest competitor in class but that didn't colour our friendship.
And then life happened. We went our separate ways."