Tara Deshpande

Tara Deshpande is an Indian actress, writer, former model and MTV VJ. Tara hosted a show called Kab Kyon Kahaan on Zee TV, along with Parth and then with Vinay Jain in the early 1990s. She appeared in several acclaimed films such as Sudhir Mishra's Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin and Kaizad Gustad's Bombay Boys. Since her marriage to an American citizen and moving to Boston in 2001, she lives in the Boston area. Her husband is a graduate of Harvard Business School and is in finance. Tara published her first book at the age of 23, Fifty and Done (HarperCollins). Before entering the world of movies she was a model and MTV VJ and a regular on the Mumbai stage. She played Begum Sumroo in Alyque Padamsee's play of the same name. Her book, A Sense for Spice: Recipes and Stories from a Konkan Kitchen (Westland Publishers) was published in 2012 and Indian Sense of Salad in 2018. She travels between NYC and Mumbai.

Appearances as herself
Apart from her work in television and films, Tara Deshpande has also appeared in many other shows as herself. She had appeared on the Movers and Shakers show with Shekhar Suman as a Guest star in episode 55. She has even co-hosted many award shows like the Filmfare awards in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Tara even appeared in the Bhoomi episodes on the DD Metro channel produced by Siddharth Kak. She was also featured on the WGHB World of Chocolate show produced by PBS and was seen on the Amul hoarding as the Amul girl in her eponymous role as Dolly in Bombay Boys.

Ms Deshpande even appeared on the MasterMind quiz show hosted by Siddharth Basu as well as Zee Tv quiz show with Sonu Nigam and Gul Panag, Naseeruddin Shah hosted by Derek O’Brien.

Theatre
Tara Deshpande began her career on the professional stage at the age of 14. She was formally launched by Alyque Padamsee in the eponymous role of the historical figure Begum Sumroo in 1995. Among her other performances are BBC Council Productions of She Stoops To Conquor by Oliver Goldsmith Toprani productions The Yours, Mine and Ours Show and Peter Schaffer’s Black Comedy. She trained under Marathi theatre legend Atmaram Bhende, Pearl Padamsee and Shiraz Jefferies.

Politics, Charities & social work
Tara Deshpande is actively involved in many charities and is a supporter of various social issues. Some of the charities she is involved in include the Rotary Club of Bombay, ASPCA, PAL, Society for the Education of the Crippled, and Montana Horse Ranch Rescue. The Culinary Culture community had declared Tara Deshpande as a COVID warrior for her free meals program for those who didn’t have access to food during COVID-19.

Writer
Tara Deshpande is the published author of several books. Fifty and Done a collection of short stories (1999 HarperCollins India), A Sense of Spice: Recipes and Stories from a Konkan Kitchen ( Westland) An Indian Sense of Salad (Penguin 2018) and Chillies and Porridge (Harper Collins 2014). Her recipes and articles have appeared in Vogue, NYTimes, Boston Globe, Indian Express, and The Print.

Besides her charity work, Tara Deshpande has been a longtime supporter of LGBTQ rights and has been a jury member for Kashish 2018 which is a famous International Queer Film Festival in Mumbai. She is also a registered Democrat and served as co-chair of the South Asian Fundraising committee for Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, during his campaign for Governor in 2001 and was briefly part of the South Asian fundraising committee for John Kerry gubernatorial race in Massachusetts.