'Satishji Was Always Doing Masti'

'Lots of people fade away from our memory after they die, but he will stay on forever.'

Rajesh Kumar is absolutely devastated by Satish Shah's untimely demise.

He played his son Rosesh in the iconic show Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai and all through a heartfelt conversation with Rediff Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya, he kept talking about the actor in the present tense.

"This year on his birthday, June 25, he made a video call from the hospital. He had just undergone a kidney transplant, but there he was, eating a large slice of cake! It's still sinking in that I will never see him or speak to him again."

'He assured me that Rosesh would take me miles ahead'

On my first day on the set of Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, I was completely in awe of my co-stars, Ratnaji (Ratna Pathak Shah) and Satishji (Satish Shah), who play my parents, Maya and Indravadhan, in the sitcom.

I hadn't seen much of their work on Doordarshan because back then I was still studying, and living in a hostel, I had no access to television.

But having seen Satishji's iconic films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Hum Aapke Hain Koun...!, I was understandably nervous and intimidated, wondering how to perform in front of these two stalwarts.

It was the scene where Rosesh recites a poem he has written, 'Oh momma, oh momma, tumne mujhe janam diya, oh momma, oh momma, sabse achcha karam kiya.'

After it was okayed, Satishji assured me that the character would work for me and take me miles ahead as an actor.

His appreciation was so genuine, he never compared, just complimented.

'As soon as he spotted me, he would say, "Aa gaya Russi"'

We remained Indravadhan aka Indu and Rosesh till his last day.

After 21 years of togetherness, I can say that even though he did not father me, Satishji was like a father to me.

And since he didn't have any children of his own, I was his child.

Since I'm so fair, he would call me Russian.

At informal gatherings, he would spot me and say, "Aa gaya Russi."

And it wasn't just fun and laughs, he would guide me on everything, even financial matters.

When I jumped into farming, he called Nana Patekar at home and asked him if it was okay to share his number with me so I could seek his advice on khetibari.

What was beautiful was that along with being my guardian, he was also my friend.

We would party together and annoy each other without either of us getting miffed.

'He never complained about the past or reflected on the future'

Satishji was a happy-go-lucky person, exactly the way he came across on screen.

Not a prankster, but always pulling your leg and doing masti on the set.

Despite his stardom, he remained a down-to-earth family man, who existed for his wife (Madhu), prioritising the needs of others over his own.

I never heard him complain about the past or reflect on the future, he only lived in the present, walking through life with an unforced smile.

I never saw him stressed even when he was unwell.

He would playfully laugh away life's samasiyain (problems).

And if you confided in him about something that was troubling you, he would listen seriously for maybe two minutes, then crack a joke and tell you to jump out of it.

"You have just one life, where is the time for the second most important thing?" he would say; the line resonates with me today.

When most of us are in survival mode, Satishji did what he wanted, ate what he wished, aur jahan se bhi gaye, unhi ke ho gaye (And wherever he went, he made those he met, his own.

This year on his birthday, June 25, he made a video call from the hospital.

He had just undergone a kidney transplant, but there he was, eating a large slice of cake!

It's still sinking in that I will never see him or speak to him again.

'Our conversations were an exchange of knowledge'

Satishji was a walking encyclopedia, you had to be careful you knew enough about the subject before broaching it with him or he would quickly shut you up, saying, "Tujhe kuch pata nahin hai, bas baat kar raha hai (You know nothing, you are just talking)."

He was a national level rifle shooter and if you got into a discussion of guns with him, you would end up thinking he had manufactured them.

A wildlife enthusiast, he could even describe the breath of a cobra.

Our conversations were an exchange of knowledge.

Even though he was a Mumbai boy, he had travelled widely and had friends in Kolkata, Bhopal and several other places.

He had no ego and I have never heard of him having a tiff with anyone, in the film industry or outside it.

He was a bhakt of another rockstar, Shammi Kapoor, and on October 24, in his last post on X, Satishji wished his idol happy birthday, adding 'you are always around me'.

Today, I feel him around me and l know I will feel the same way next year and the year after.

'He couldn't remember names'

Satishji was a fantastic singer who loved songs of both (Mohammad) Rafisaab and Kishoreda (Kishore Kumar).

He was a man of many talents whose only drawback was that he couldn't remember names.

When we were shooting together, he would whisper, "Naam tu yaad rakhiyo (You remember the names)."

Unfortunately, like him, I too am bad with names!

There was a tongue twister of a name in Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, which Satishji just couldn't pronounce while performing, but funnily remembered clearly years later.

'Rupali suddenly said, "Shall we sing our song?"'

For the last six months, J D Majethia, the producer of Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, had been working hard to revive the show.

We were waiting for Satishji to get well to start shooting.

Who knew it would close like this!

Our Sarabhai parivar is like a real family and all of us have certain unsaid responsibilities towards each other.

A lot of other big and successful shows have come before it and since, but I can confidently say that you will not see this kind of a bonding amongst actors even in 100 years.

It's hard to describe yeh rishta kya kehlata hai because the relationship goes beyond mere words.

That's why it was so hard for us to control our emotions at Satishji's funeral knowing the vacuum he had left behind can never be filled.

Rupali (Ganguly) suddenly said, "Shall we sing our song?".

It just happened, you could call it Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai's last curtain call and who knows, maybe Satishji orchestrated it from up there.

He never had a child, but he remained a child all his life.

Going by the obits and the outpouring of emotions on social media, as an actor he was much admired and respected for his body of work.

From the different characters in Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi to Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, the one and only Indu, from Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron's corpse to Main Hoon Naa's spittle spewing-teacher, his repertoire is the envy of actors like us.

Lots of people fade away from our memory after they die, but he will stay on forever.

Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff