Priya Rajvansh (30 December 1936 – 27 March 2000), bornVera Sunder Singh, was an Indian actress, who is known for her performance inHindi films likeHeer Raanjha (1970) andHanste Zakhm (1973), amongst a handful of films she did during her career.

Priya Rajvansh
Born	Vera Sunder Singh 30 December 1936 Simla,Punjab Province,British India (nowShimla,Himachal Pradesh,India)
Died	27 March 2000(2000-03-27) (aged 63) Mumbai,Maharashtra,India
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1964–1986
Partner	Chetan Anand
Family	Anand family

Priya Rajvansh was born as Veera Sunder Singh inShimla. Her father Sunder Singh was a Conservator in the Forest Department. She grew up in Shimla along with her brothers, Kamaljit Singh (Gulu) and Padamjit Singh. She studied atAuckland House, where she was school captain, andConvent of Jesus and Mary, Shimla. She passed intermediate fromSt. Bede's College, Shimla in 1953, and joined Bhargava Municipal College (BMC), during this period, she acted in several English plays atShimla's notedGaiety Theatre.

Her father was on aUN assignment, so after graduation she joined theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) inLondon, UK.^[1][2][3]

While still in London and 22 years old, one of her photographs, taken by a London photographer, somehow reached theHindi film industry. A movie maker of that time, Thakur Ranveer Singh, belonging to a Rajput family of Kota learned of her. Singh had written and made popular British and Hollywood films starringYul Bryner andUrsula Andress and was familiar with Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton. Ranveer Singh had also given the popular actorRanjeet his first offer in a film calledZindagi ki Rahein (Roads of life) which he wanted to make.^[4]

Subsequently, Ranveer Singh brought her to meetChetan Anand, (brother ofDev Anand andVijay Anand) in 1962 and they cast her in one of their films,Haqeeqat (1964). The film became a hit and is often counted as among the best Indian war-films. Soon she was in a relationship with her mentor, Chetan Anand, who had just separated from his wife. Priya was many years younger to Chetan. Thereafter, she starred only in Chetan Anand films, in which she was involved in every aspect- starting from story to scripting, lyrics, and post-production. Chetan, too, never made a film without her as the central character. Despite being a highly talented actress, her anglicised accent and western femininity did not click well with the Indian audience.

Her next film,Heer Raanjha came out only in 1970, where she acted opposite the rage of that time, actorRaaj Kumar, and the film was a hit. Then cameHanste Zakhm, arguably the finest film of her career, in 1973. Her other noted films wereHindustan Ki Kasam (1973), with Raaj Kumar, andKudrat (1981), paired oppositeRajesh Khanna, where she had a parallel role withHema Malini as the lead. She also starred opposite Dev Anand inSaheb Bahadur in 1977. Her last filmHaathon Ki Lakeeren was released in 1985, after which she ended her film career.

Priya Rajvansh andChetan Anand had a personal relationship and they lived together, though she kept her own flat first in Kalumal Estate and, later, a bigger house in Mangal Kiran. Her two brothers, Kamaljit Singh (Gulu) and Padamjit Singh, reside in London and the USA respectively, and have an ancestral home in Chandigarh.^[5]

After Chetan Anand's death in 1997, she inherited a part of his property along with his sons from his first marriage. She was murdered on 27 March 2000 in Chetan Anand's Ruia Park bungalow inJuhu, Mumbai, India. Police charged Chetan Anand's sons Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand along with their employees Mala Choudhary and Ashok Chinnaswamy with her murder.^[6] Their motive was thought to be rights to her inheritance of Chetan Anand's property. Rajvansh's handwritten notes and a letter addressed by her to Vijay Anand were produced in court as evidence by the prosecution.^[7] The letter and notes throw light on Rajvansh's fear and anxiety during the period prior to her death under mysterious circumstances.

The four accused were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2002^{[8][9][10][11]} but they were granted bail in November 2002.^[12] In 2011, the Bombay High Court agreed to hear the appeals filed by the accused duo against the trial court's order.^[13]

• Remembering Priya Rajvansh atRediff.com
• Priya Rajvansh atIMDb
• Priya Rajvansh atBollywood Hungama