Kavita Chaudhary.
Credit: X/@jaidsen
Mumbai: Actor and model Kavita Chaudhary—known for her portrayal of an IPS officer in the iconic TV series Udaan and a household name because of her Lalita ji ad with Surf detergent—passed away on Thursday night. She was 67.
She died of a heart attack in a hospital in Amritsar, her family and friends confirmed.
The Mumbai-based Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA), which is a trade union that looks after the rights and welfare of its members in the entertainment industry, condoled her death.
“CINTAA expresses its condolences on the demise of Kavita Chaudhary,” it posted on X.
Kavita was an alumnus of the National School of Drama (NSD).
She shot into fame with Udaan, which was aired on Doordarshan from 1989-91, and was based on the struggle of a woman aspiring to be an IPS officer. The series also starred Shekhar Kapur, the legendary actor-director-filmmaker.
The serial is inspired by the true story of late IPS officer Kanchan Choudhary Bhattacharya, the first woman to become the Director General of Police of a state (in her case Uttaranchal, now Uttarakhand). She died on August 26, 2019 in a hospital in Mumbai.
Kavita also made two more television shows—Your Honour and IPS Diaries.
Her role of Lalita ji in the Surf detergent commercials in India in the late 1980s also caught on, making her a household name.
Actor Amit Behl, in a post on X also condoled Kavita's death: "RIP Kavita Chaudhary, is baar aapne lambi udaan bhar li, Naman," he wrote and tagged the NSD and CINTAA.