Raza Murad recalls waiting ‘eagerly’ for Satish Kaushik on sets of Ram Lakhan, Aunty No. 1: ‘He used to change the mood..’

Kaushik hailed from Mahendragarh, Haryana and studied in Delhi before starting his career in showbiz.

“A boy comes alone from Haryana, he struggles, gets a job cause this (Mumbai) is an expensive city. Along with that he also starts doing stage work only to become such a big name. He has done some of the most memorable roles like Calendar in Mr India, he played a character named Pappu Pager, in Ram Lakhan he co-starred with me as Kanchi Ram,” he said.

Reminiscing the days when he starred with Kaushik, he added, “I got the opportunity to work with him in two films. One was Ram Lakhan and the other was Aunty No. 1. We used to eagerly wait for him to come to set and when he did, he used to change the mood with his talks and jokes. It’s a loss for all of us, we have lost a good person, actor, director and writer.”

Murad said, “He was a very jovial and live-hearted person and as soon as he came to the sets, the atmosphere used to change. He made very good films like Roop ki Rani Choro ka Raja, Prem, Tere Naam, Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, so he was a multi-talented and multi-faceted person. Being happy and making others happy was an important part of his life.”

On the family front, Kaushik suffered a personal tragedy when after his marriage to Shashi Kaushik in 1985, their son, Shanu Kaushik died when he was just two years old. Later, in 2012, his daughter Vanshika was born through a surrogate mother.

Referring to this tragedy, Murad stated, “Everyone has to go someday but today due to his demise people all over the nation, along with the film industry, are mourning. What can be a bigger honour for anyone? Also, the life of comedians has a lot of tragedy in them. Two years after his marriage, he had a boy but due to some disease, he passed away at age 2. What he must have felt was tragic. But life has to go on. Often, we have to hide our sorrows and make people happy, such was the life of Satish Kaushik.”

The mortal remains of Satish, who passed away at the age of 66 after suffering a cardiac arrest, will be sent to Mumbai for his last rites in an air ambulance which will carry his body from Delhi’s Deen Dayal Hospital where he had been brought to for a postmortem.