Ayi Tendulkar

Ayi Ganpat Tendulkar (1904–1975) was an Indian screenwriter, journalist and actor. He is especially known as the husband of Thea von Harbou, the writer of the science fiction film classic Metropolis.

Education and marriages

Tendulkar received the Toppiwala scholarship, which allowed him to gain admission into a British university, but he was not quite ready to begin his studies. As a result, he decided to study French at the École Normale Superieure, in Paris.

Tendulkar's first wife was Sasha Alexandra Passini, a Russian whom he met in Paris in 1924. After they separated, Passini married an Italian man.

Tendulkar's fourth wife was Indumati Gunaji. When World War II broke out, Tendulkar was forced to leave Germany, and he returned to India, where he met Gunaji while getting involved in Gandhi's campaign against British rule. Gandhi himself became involved in their relationship, stipulating they could not marry before waiting five years and not having children before India gained independence. Their daughter, Laxmi Tendulkar Dhaul, wrote a book about her parents and von Harbou.