Teji Bachchan passes away

MUMBAI: Mother of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Teji, on Friday died in a hospital in suburban Mumbai after prolonged illness. She was 93. Wife of Hindi literary great Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Teji was in the Lilavati Hospital for almost the whole of this year and was shifted to the ICU last month after her condition became worse. Details of the cause of her demise were not immediately available. Earlier, members of the Bachchan family, including sons Amitabh and Ajitabh, grandson Abhishek and his wife Aishwarya, arrived at the hospital after learning that her condition deteriorated. Family friends including Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh and Anil Ambani also visited the hospital. The body is likely to be taken to the Bachchan residence in Juhu before the last rites are performed. The second wife of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Teji was an amatuer actor as well as a singer. Harivansh Rai, himself a renowned Hindi poet, died in 2003 at the age of 96. Born as Teji Suri to Punjabi parents, she married Bachchan in 1941 after the death of his first wife. She was also close to the Nehru-Gandhi family while the Bachchan family was living in Delhi in the late 1950s. Teji's illness had resulted in the Bachchan family curtailing celebrations at their Juhu residence for the past few years on occasions like Holi and Diwali. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai had visited her in the hospital prior to their wedding earlier this year to seek her blessings. All major family events were usually conducted after seeking her blessings.