Amitabh's mother dies aged 93

Mumbai: Teji Bachchan, mother of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, died yesterday in a hospital in suburban Bandra after a prolonged illness. She was 93.

Wife of the late Hindi literary figure Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Teji was being treated in Lilavati Hospital for almost a year and was shifted to the ICU last month after her condition deteriorated.

Amitabh, who visited his mother everyday, called his family, including wife Jaya, son Abhishek and his wife Aishwarya, after his mother's condition became worse.

Teji breathed her last at 1.15pm in the afternoon.

Later in the evening, Teji's body was taken from the hospital in an ambulance to their family home in Juhu by Amitabh, his brother Ajitabh and Abhishek. Priests are expected to arrive from Varanasi to perform the last rites.

The funeral is likely to be held this morning.

After hearing the news of her death, several close friends of the Bachchan family visited the hospital, including Reliance's Anil Ambani, Subroto Roy of Sahara Group and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh.

Teji, the second wife of noted writer and poet Harivansh Rai - who died in 2003 at the age of 96, was a good singer as well as a stage actor. Born in Lahore to a Punjabi family, she married Bachchan in 1941 after the death of his first wife. Teji was close to the Nehru-Gandhi family when the Bachchans were living in Delhi in the 1950s.

Rajiv's marriage

Despite the relations that have soured between the two families, Teji had a special place in her heart for Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka and Rahul.

In his autobiography, Amitabh's father described how Sonia Maino, Rajiv Gandhi's fiancee, was put up at the Bachchan family when she arrived in India for her marriage in 1968.

Teji had taken on the role of Sonia's godmother, introducing her to Indian ways of life. Some of the marriage rituals were held at the Bachchan household even as Harivansh Rai and Teji sang at the wedding.