Pearl Padamsee was an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n theatre personality as a stage actress, director and producer of English language theatre in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

 active in 1950s - 1990s.

She also acted a few Hindi and English language films

English language Indian films

Indian crossover films appeared in Indian cinema with international productions with Indian themes, starting with Merchant Ivory Productions first venture, The Householder , which has an India story, setting with an Indian cast, which included, Shashi Kapoor, Leela Naidu and Durga Khote, followed...

. She performed in at least ten films including Khatta Meetha

Khatta Meetha

Khatta Meetha is a 1978 Hindi movie directed by Basu Chatterjee. The film stars Ashok Kumar, Rakesh Roshan, Bindiya Goswami, Pearl Padamsee, David Abraham Cheulkar, Ranjit Chowdhry, Preeti Ganguly, Deven Verma, Pradeep Kumar and Iftekhar. The films music is by Rajesh Roshan...

, Junoon (1978 film)

Junoon (1978 film)

The soundtrack features 4 songs, composed by Vanraj Bhatia, with original lyrics from Yogesh Praveen and other lyrics by Amir Khusro, Jigar Moradabadi and Sant Kabir.#"Khusro rain piya ki jaagi pee ke sang" – Jamil Ahmad...

, Baaton Baaton Mein, and Such a Long Journey

Such a Long Journey

Such a Long Journey is a film based on the novel of the same name written by Rohinton Mistry. It is directed by Sturla Gunnarsson from a screenplay by Sooni Taraporevala.-Plot:...

.

Her after-school theatre workshops for children influenced the lives of many, even those who did not later go into the performing arts.

Writer and diplomat Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala...

 called her "one of the most talented and experienced figures of the Bombay stage."

Personal life

Padamsee was of Indian Jewish

Bene Israel

The Bene Israel are a group of Jews who migrated in the 19th century from villages in the Konkan area to the nearby Indian cities, primarily Mumbai, but also to Pune, and Ahmedabad. Prior to these waves of emigrations and to this day, the Bene Israel formed the largest sector of the subcontinent's...

 and Punjabi

Punjabi people

The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...

 heritage, but married men of different religions. She was at one time married to Alyque Padamsee

Alyque Padamsee

Alyque Padamsee is an Indian theater personality and ad film maker. He is probably best known in the English-speaking world for playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the film Gandhi...

 and had a daughter Raell Padamsee by him, who runs her own theatre company in Mumbai. She also had two children from an earlier marriage, one of them, Ranjit Chowdhry

Ranjit Chowdhry

Ranjit Chowdhry is an actor of Indian descent, with around forty movies and television performances to his credit, besides acting in theatre as well. Varied spellings of his names have been used in credits...

, is an actor.

External links

• A night remembering 'Pearl' (Apr 25, 2010) The Times of India
  The Times of India
  The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...