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Film critic-author Aruna Vasudev dies at 88
Updated On: 06 September, 2024 07:21 AM IST | Mumbai | PTI
The Delhi-based scholar was the founder-editor of "Cinemaya: The Asian Film Quarterly". She is also credited with founding the internationally-renowned Netpac over three decades ago, a worldwide organisation to forward the cause of Asian films
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Aruna Vasudev
Eminent film critic, curator and author Aruna Vasudev, regarded as the `mother of Asian cinema`, died on Thursday morning at a hospital here due to age-related illness, her close friend Neerja Sarin said. She was 88. Vasudev had been undergoing treatment at a multi-speciality hospital for the past three weeks. "She was not keeping well for some time. She had Alzheimer`s and was suffering from other old age-related health issues as well. She died at the hospital this morning," Sarin told PTI. Vasudev was married to the late diplomat Sunil Roy Chowdhury. She is survived by her graphic designer-daughter Yamini Roy Chowdhury, wife of politician Varun Gandhi. The last rites will be held at the Lodhi Road crematorium at 3 pm. From her humble origins in pre-independent India and to the corridors of the cinematic universe, Vasudev wore many hats throughout her life as a critic, author, editor, painter, documentary maker, trustee, member of several panels and above all, the torch bearer of Asian cinema.
The Delhi-based scholar was the founder-editor of "Cinemaya: The Asian Film Quarterly". She is also credited with founding the internationally-renowned Netpac over three decades ago, a worldwide organisation to forward the cause of Asian films. Social media was flooded with messages of condolences for Vasudev. Veteran actor Shabana Azmi said she is "saddened" to hear about Vasudev`s passing. "She was the pioneer for making Asian films a genre to be talked about as a separate identity of its own. There are many laurels to her credit but I will always remember her for her warmth and radiant smile. Her observations were always insightful and I enjoyed being with her a lot. My condolences to her family. RIP dear dearest Aruna," Azmi wrote on Instagram. Thank you for the movies, Aruna Vasudev, said film critic and author Namrata Joshi. "Growing up 80s-90s Delhi, world cinema specially from Asia & the Arab world first came home to us because of the ceaseless untiring efforts of Aruna and Latika Padgaonkar through their Cinefan film festival and Cinemaya magazine," Joshi wrote on X.
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