Amritsar: Actor Kavita Chaudhary, known for her role in the television show ‘Udaan’ and as Lalitaji in Surf commercials, passed away on Thursday. She was 67.
She died in Amritsar on last night following a cardiac arrest. “She died due to cardiac arrest at 8.30 pm. She breathed her last at Parvati Devi Hospital in Amritsar where she was being treated,” the Indian Express quoted her nephew Ajay Sayal as saying.
Kavita was suffering from cancer.
‘Udaan’ was televised in 1989, where Kavita portrayed the character of IPS officer Kalyani Singh. Additionally, she wrote and directed the show, which was inspired by the life of her sister Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya, the second IPS officer after Kiran Bedi.
During that period, Kavita was celebrated as an icon of female empowerment, given the limited representation of female IPS officers in movies and television. Later in her career, Kavita produced shows such as ‘Your Honour’ and ‘IPS Diaries’.
Kavita’s face had also become as synonymous with Lalitaji as Surf was with detergents during the 1980s and 1990s. In these ads, she depicted an astute housewife, who demonstrates prudence in her spending and consistently makes wise decisions.
Discussing her character in the advertisements, she had shared with The Quint., “Lalita ji was this no-nonsense [character] which was not my personality but he just felt that I might be able to understand the tone of it. He relied on the actor’s understanding.”
