Renowned director Pradeep Sarkar passed away on Friday after a long illness. At the time of his death, he was working on his dream project, a biopic of Hindi film actress Priya Rajvansh. The movie was titled ‘Priya Interrupted’. Priya Rajvansh was the partner of Chetan Anand, the director of the movie ‘Neecha Nagar’, which won the Grand Prix at the first-ever Cannes Film Festival in 1946. Chetan Anand later founded Navketan Films with his younger brother, Dev Anand.
Priya Rajvansh’s murder on March 27, 2000, shook Mumbai. Chetan Anand’s sons Ketan and Vivek were convicted of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. They were released on bail after serving two years.
The murder was allegedly over a dispute about Chetan Anand’s sea-facing bungalow in Juhu, where Priya Rajvansh lived during her relationship with the director and even after his death in 1997. She acted in all of his films, including ‘Haqeeqat’.
Pradeep Sarkar had already worked out the story, set design, and costumes for ‘Priya Interrupted’, and was scheduled to begin shooting this year, according to the film’s producer, Deepak Mukul. Sarkar considered the film his dream project. His untimely death has left the project incomplete.
