Anil Kapoor remembers Satish Kaushik: I don’t want to cry but I came to celebrate his birth anniversary because I was not here when he passed away – Times of India

Anupam Kher hosted a celebration of Satish Kaushik’s life on his birth anniversary today and many of Kaushik’s friends, colleagues and peers attended the evening. At the event legends like Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Subhash Ghai and more spoke fondly about the late Satish Kaushik, recalling his talent and affable nature. But none were as emotional as Satish Kaushik’s best friend Anil Kapoor. They had worked together in many movies and Anil had also shared a compilation video, remembering his good friend and colleague from movies like Mr India, Deewana Mastana and Thar. At the event, Anil broke down in tears as he watched their good friend Anupam speak of Satish Kaushik and then play the video tribute on a big screen.
When Anil Kapoor took to the stage, he confessed, “I was preparing myself, how do I go? I don’t want to cry. I came, because I was not there when Satish passed away (Kapoor was out of the country on a film shoot). One thing I miss about him is every morning, he used to call me. I’m never going to hear that ‘Kapoor saab’ by Satish. I used to reply, ‘Kaushik saab ki jai ho’. Who will I complain to about Anupam now?”

Anil confessed that he had called Satish after many events to complain about what Anupam did wrong or what he spoke. He then said, “I will call Neena (Gupta) to complain about Anupam.” Kher then reminded Anil about Satish’s charisma with the ladies. Anil beamed as he narrated the memories and said, “There are two people who I am very jealous of – one is Jackie Shroff and the other is Satish Kaushik. Whenever I do a film there are a lot of beautiful ladies and female assistants. They will all go to Jackie Shroff and Satish Kaushik. No one would come to me.” Kapoor narrated the time when he shot for Thar with his best friend Satish Kaushik. He revealed, “The entire unit of Thar, most of them were females. I was sitting in my van memorizing my dialogues, my friends Kamlesh, Jalal were all there. I was with my male friends. When I go to Kaushik’s van, I see there are only women sitting inside. He was charming, he had a sense of humour and it was why women found him charming.” Anil also pointed out to Kaushik’s wife Shashi and said, “Even at NSD it wasn’t just one girl. Satish was always surrounded by all the girls. He used to say, ‘Sense of humour is my weapon’.” Anupam, who was on stage with Anil agreed. Anil also revealed that on the sets of Thar, he was worried by Satish Kaushik’s health. He recalled that there were times when Kaushik was winded and he requested to shoot sitting down and even then, he managed to steal the scene.

Kapoor also revealed that Satish Kaushik wanted to make his ambitious directorial Kaagaz with him as the lead. He narrated the story, “Satish was working on that film for the past 15-16 years. Whenever I heard the script, I thought, there’s this guy from the village, who’s very poor, and he’s extremely thin. I used to ask Satish, ‘From what angle do you think I look like I’m from the village?’. I kept on telling him, I was not the right guy to make Kaagaz with. But as Javed saab said, Satish’s resilience, his passion, that he has to do this film succeeded. The film was super. But for about 8-9 years, he wanted me to do that film. And I used to say, ‘If I do this film, it’s going to be the biggest disaster in the world’. Sometimes an actor knows he’s not the right choice.”

That’s when Anupam cut in and added, “Satish’s first choice, whether it was a film about a Raja, Ranjha or fakeer, his first choice was always Anil.” Kapoor exclaimed that Satish Kaushik went away too soon and he added, “Satish was a great actor. He was a thousand times better than Anupam and I. No matter what the scene, whatever the character, an actor like Anupam is great, but Satish was instinctive, he had depth, power, his voice was phenomenal, he could bring layers within every dialogue. His timing was unbelievable. Anupam and I used to watch him and recommend him as a dialogue writer, because Satish used to write his own dialogues. His punches, humour, he was so instinctive. He was an instinctive writer. He was an instinctive gag maker. He was emotional.”

Kapoor also narrated an incident when Satish Kaushik enthralled an audience of film industry veterans like Amitabh Bachchan. He recalled, “We were sitting there on a table, 20-25 people. Our confidence was at its peak. Bachchan sir was there and we were all seated. I swear to God, all 15-20 people, everybody’s focus, with their ears and eyes open, was on Satish, listening to him. That was his power. He could hold the movie. He could hold anyone’s attention.”