Priya Rajvansh

Priya Rajvansh
Priya Rajvansh
Born	Vera Sunder Singh 1937 Simla, Punjab, British India (now Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India)
Died	27 March 2000 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1964–86
Partner(s)	Chetan Anand

Priya Rajvansh (1937 – 27 March 2000), born Vera Sunder Singh, was an Indian film actress, who is known for her performance in Hindi films like, Heer Raanjha (1970) and Hanste Zakhm (1973), amongst a handful of films she did during her career.

Priya Rajvansh was born as Veera Sunder Singh in Shimla in a Sikh family. Her father Sunder Singh was a Conservator in the Forest Department. She grew up in Shimla along with her brothers, Kamaljit Singh (Gulu) and Padamjit Singh. She studied at Auckland House, where she was school captain, and Convent of Jesus and Mary, Shimla. She passed intermediate from St. Bede's College, Shimla in 1953, and joined Bhargava Municipal College (BMC), during this period, she acted in several English plays at Shimla's noted Gaiety Theatre.

Her father was on a UN assignment, so after graduation she joined the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, UK.

While still in London and 22 years old, one of her photographs, clicked by a London photographer, somehow reached the Hindi film industry and Chetan Anand, (brother of Dev Anand and Vijay Anand) in 1962, who cast her in his next film, Haqeeqat (1964), which remains one of the most noted war-films in India. Soon she was in a relationship with her mentor, Chetan Anand, who had just separated from his wife; Priya was many years younger and very beautiful and the two grew close to each other. Thereafter she starred only in Chetan Anand's films, where she was involved in every aspect of film-making from story to scripting, lyrics, and post-production. Chetan, too, never made a film without her as the central character. Despite being a highly talented actress, her anglicised accent and western femininity did not click with the Indian audience.

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