Actor Priya Marathe passes away at 38 after battling cancer; Pavitra Rishta co-star Usha Nadkarni says, ‘This is no age to go’

In 2008, after Ya Sukhano Ya came to an end, Priya Marathe made her film debut with Milind Ukey’s coming-of-age dramedy Humne Jeena Seekh Liya, adapted from the Marathi novel Shaala. She then entered the Hindi TV industry with Kasamh Se, a daily soap on Zee TV backed by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms. She appeared as Vidya Bali on the show for almost a year.

That was followed by arguably Priya’s most renowned roles yet, as Varsha Satish Deshpande and Jhumri Balan Singh, in the Zee TV show Pavitra Rishta, which was headlined by the late Sushant Singh Rajput and Ankita Lokhande. Also backed by Balaji Telefilms, Pavitra Rishta became the third longest-running Indian TV series on the channel, airing for five years from 2009 to 2014.

Priya Marathe’s Pavitra Rishta co-star Usha Nadkarni exclusively spoke to SCREEN about the actor’s demise. “I’d heard that she had cancer. I felt bad because is this even the age to get cancer. Then she had an operation, and even worked on a serial after that. Everything went well. Then I recently learned that she’s not doing well. So we thought of visiting her But her husband asked us not to visit. Maybe because when you have cancer, you lose all your hair (to chemotherapy). So she may feel embarrassed. That was just a few days ago. We have Ganpati at home, so can’t even visit her for the last rites right now. But I felt very sad. How can God be so cruel? This is no age to die,” said Nadkarni.

 

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“She was a nice girl. She kept smiling and mingled with everyone. I feel very sad when my colleagues pass away like this,” added Nadkarni, choking up. She mentioned that Priya Marathe had just tied the knot a few years ago (in 2012), and had bought a house on loan. “It’s a good thing she didn’t have kids because I can’t imagine what would’ve happened to them now.”

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Priya Marathe was not only an actor, but also a stand-up comedian. She participated as a contestant in the 2010 Sony Entertainment Television show Comedy Circus Ke SuperStars. She followed that up with appearances in popular Hindi TV shows like Uttaran (2011-2012), Bade Achhe Lagte Hain (2012), and Saath Nibhaana Saathiya (2017), in which she essayed a negative role.