Lalan Sarang, actress & writer, passes away at 79

PUNE: Stage and film actress, Lalan Sarang, known for her role in the adaptations of Vijay Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder, passed away in Pune on Friday morning after a period of illness. She was 79. Sarang’s family said the body will be taken to their home in Pune on Saturday morning.
Her last rites will be completed the same day at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, according to her wishes, as her husband, Kamlakar Sarang, was also cremated there, a family statement added.She leaves behind her son Rakesh Sarang, a director and a screenplay writer in films and television.
Sarang was most famous for her role as Champa in Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder, which had generated considerable controversy due to its content. She collaborated with Tendulkar again to have a role in Gidhade, known for her role as Maanik, as well as in his play Kamala. She also took on roles in the adaptations of plays like SN Pendse’s Rathchakra. Her husband, Kamlakar, also produced a number of plays she had acted in.
She also made a surprise return to stage in 2012 after a long hiatus, directing and acting in Kalachakra, originally written by Jaywant Dalvi.
“The kind of roles she played during our formative years in the 1970s was inspiring. Because of the role she played in Sakharam Binder, she had to face a lot of humiliation from everywhere, even on the streets, at a time when she was married and had a young child. Even so, she stood by her husband and Tendulkar, and there were more than 400 shows all over Maharashtra. She was a brave person and the theatre community stood up for them, including people like P L Deshpande, despite not being part of the play,” Satish Alekar, playwright and actor, said.
In films, she played character roles. These included Samna, and Ha Khel Sawalanchya, and more recently in Mahek. Beyond her roles in Marathi films and plays, she also played a number of roles in Hindi television soaps and plays.
Besides being a stage and film actor, as well as a producer along with her husband, Lalan was a prolific author, writing books about theatre and forms of acting. A culinary expert, she was also known as a restaurateur, having founded the Tilak Road restaurant Masemari, known for its elaborate seafood menu. Her family was originally from Goa that migrated to Mumbai, and finally settled in Pune.