Teji Harivansh Rai Srivastava Bachchan (''née'' Tejwant Kaur Suri; 12 August 1914 21 December 2007) was an Indian social activist, the wife of

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and mother of Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Biography

Teji was Born into a Punjabi Sikh

Khatri Khatri is a caste of the Indian subcontinent that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantilistic professions such as banking and trade, they were the d ...

family in Lyallpur, Punjab Province,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(present-day

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

). After completing her education, she took a job teaching psychology at Khoob Chand Degree College,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. She met Harivansh Srivastava, then a lecturer of English at

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

, when he attended a college event in Lahore. The couple got married in Allahabad in 1941, and upon her wedding, Teji became a home maker. She remained a lover of the stage, and she would also sing at social gatherings if pressed. During his lifetime, Harivansh remained completely engrossed in his work, leaving his wife to handle all family matters. Even in social engagements, the poet willingly played a minor role to his sociable wife. The Bachchans had two sons: Amitabh Bachchan and Ajitabh Bachchan. The Bachchans were a part of India's literary circuit and high society. The couple sang at events. Teji played Lady Macbeth in her husband's

adaptation of '' Macbeth''. They also played a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

Yash Chopra Yash Raj Chopra (27 September 1932 21 October 2012) was an Indian film director and film producer who worked in Hindi cinema. The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chopra was the recipient of ...

's 1976 film, ''

Kabhi Kabhie ''Kabhi Kabhie'' (English: ''Sometimes'') is a 1976 Indian musical romantic drama film produced and directed by Yash Chopra and written by Pamela Chopra starring an ensemble cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee, Shashi Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Ris ...

''. She was also appointed as one of the Directors of the Film Finance Corporation in 1973. The Film Finance Corporation of India (and its successor

National Film Development Corporation of India The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) based in Mumbai is the central agency established in 1975, to encourage high quality Indian cinema. It functions in areas of film financing, production and distribution and under Ministr ...

), a Government of India undertaking's main objective was to finance the production of purposeful films of good quality with a view to improving the general standards of the medium. Bachchan was in the Lilavati Hospital for almost the whole of the year 2007 and she was shifted to the ICU in November 2007 after her condition became worse. She died at the age of 93 on 21 December 2007 after prolonged illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bachchan, Teji 1914 births 2007 deaths Indian Sikhs Indian human rights activists People from Faisalabad Punjabi people Women Indian independence activists Indian independence activists from Punjab (British India) People from Mumbai Indian independence activists from Maharashtra Women in Maharashtra politics Teji