The late actor-filmmaker Satish Kaushik, who passed away last month after a cardiac arrest, and actor Anil Kapoor had a strong friendship. When Kaushik passed away, Kapoor was out of the country. He recently paid tribute to his late buddy on the occasion of his 67th birthday. Anupam Kher organised the “Satish Kaushik Night,” where actor Ranbir Kapoor spoke about how Kaushik was ill even throughout the making of their final film, Thar (2022).
Kapoor would counsel Kaushik to take some time off and return to shooting the Netflix movie only when he felt good. “When we were shooting for Thar, I could feel that he was not well. I was so emotionally attached to him. I used to tell him, ‘You come at your convenience. You should relax, and take a break.’ He would tell me he is feeling acidic, and I always told him to take his time.”
He added, “But then he turned up on the set. I asked him, ‘Weren’t you taking rest?’ And he jokingly responded, ‘I was scared you would remove my scene. Now I feel better’.”
While in Delhi, Satish Kaushik passed away from a heart attack. When Kaushik’s health deteriorated when he was visiting a friend in Gurugram, he asked his driver to drive him to the hospital. He, however, had a heart attack while driving and passed away.
Kapoor averred, “I had watched one of his plays called Bicchoo in Prithvi Theatre. I found him to be a great actor and suggested his name to Boney. He came to do a scene in Woh 7 Din. When Naseer sahab (Naseeruddin Shah) saw him, he fired him saying, ‘Why are you doing just one scene here?’ But he still did it and from there our friendship started. Until today, we are friends.”
Anil Kapoor used to make Satish Kaushik nervous by criticising him for his unhealthy behaviours. “He was scared of me. He knew if I saw him, I would scold him. So, he used to tuck his T-shirt in whenever he came to my house. He used to ask me, ‘Kapoor sahab, see I have lost weight na?’ Then he would pick the unhealthiest food option from the table. He was so fond of eating,” Kapoor recalled.
“We did more than 17 films together. He really believed in me. He used to make me feel that duniya mein agar koi actor hai toh vo Anil Kapoor (If there is one great actor in the world, it is Anil Kapoor). He would bring all the scripts to me. But he was a great actor. He was a thousand times better than me and Anupam. The layer, the depth in his voice, his dialogue delivery, and his timing were unbelievable. He would write his punches, he was such an instinctive writer. His passion was his drive, he was relentless.”
On social media, Anil Kapoor paid a moving homage to Satish Kaushik. He shared a video with some of Kaushik’s most famous quotes. In the caption, he penned down, “While I sit here trying to find the right words or just any words really to express what I feel right now…I want to fill books telling you what you mean to me but I know you already knew that…in the 3 mins of this video, I relived so many of our memories. I wish we had more time…I wish I could call you and tell you just one more time how lucky I am to have you in my life… I miss you beyond words Satish… I pray that everyone has a friend like you in their life because you were a true blessing… Happy birthday my friend…”
