Abhinay ka Amar Sikandar-- Witty Satish Shah who excelled in comedy, singing, etc deserves a 'Padma Shri' honour ! Coincidentally Nov 1st is 21st anniversary of evergreen Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai !! By Sr. Journalist Chaitanya Padukone

‘Hats Off’ !! to the thoughtful yet visionary (Shah and Prabhu Family and the Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai pura parivaar led by Jamnadas Majethia) who organized the entire emotional ‘Shraddhanjali Kriya’ event on Monday evening! Where there were vocal  musical tributes paid even as they celebrated the creative spirit, dynamic life and glorious legacy of  ‘late’ legendary multi-talented 'zinda dil' Film and TV super-actor Satish Shah !  Who during his lifetime always loved  ‘live’ singing and had tremendous knowledge of Hindi songs. Singer and mimic Sudesh Bhosle with emotions in his voice and tears in his eyes  sang on stage—‘Hansta hua jo jaayega—woh Muqaddar Ka Sikander jaaneman kehlayega”. 

The large number of well-wishers ( including celebs)  who attended (despite the heavy rains outside) were seated in the Juhu-Jalaram hall were ago with heart-felt attention when Sonu Nigam sang the evergreen romantic retro-song  ‘Tere Mere Sapne’ ( from ‘Guide’) and coaxed and motivated Satish’s graceful wife  ( former talented designer) Madhu also to sing with him. She responded so beautifully singing “Ho jahaan bhi le jaayen raahein ‘Hum Sangg Hain’ despite her ailing-neuro condition. With these healing vibes of Sonu Nigam and Madhu-jee’s response, everyone present was instantly moved to  tears of  sympathy and cheers..Sensitive Rupali Ganguly ( 'Monisha') was seen most of the time sobbing in tears and finding it difficult to reconcile with the sad, sudden passing away of  Satish-jee --who was more like an off-screen caring "father-figure" to her !.

In the wake of  Film Federation Employees body (FWICE --Ashoke Pandit) urging Hon’ble PM Modi-jee to kindly consider conferring the Padma Shri prestigious honor-title 'posthumously' upon Satish Shah---the Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai producer Jamnadas Majethia ( JD-bhai as we fondly call him) shared his comments. A few years ago, his very close buddy actor Satish Shah had mentioned to him that he was expecting the Govt Civil Award Honour, but it just did not happen. “It was Satish-bhai’s ardent wish which can now be fulfilled, and it will surely bring smiles for all of us and even to his millions of his fans who are grieving after his sudden, sad exit,” shared J D Majethia.!

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It has been my fortunate honour, that I personally knew versatile star-actor comedian and gem of a person ‘late’ tall, smart Satish Shah right from the (1984) TV show ‘Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’, As an upcoming entertainment journalist-correspondent attached to Mid-Day, I used to often drop in on the indoor shooting sets of  ‘Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’ at Rajkamal Studios at Parel.  Very soon I struck a friendly rapport with the entire famous TV stars lead cast of ‘Yeh Jo Hai..’  and even its multiple alternating directors. During the lunch and tea breaks and after pack-up,  I would be sitting and chatting with Rakesh Bedi, Swaroop Sampat, Shafi Inamdar and of course Satish Shah ! Who was the off-screen sit-down entertainer ( not stand-up)  with his ad-lib witty punch-lines or he would be humming his favourite Kishore Kumar romantic songs. Since I used to stay in the same Tardeo ( central Mumbai) area several times Satish-bhai would drop me on his way home to Forjett Street in the same area.. Those days music-lover Satish mentioned to me that it was divine coincidence that he shared his birthday ( June 25th ) with legendary maestro composer Madan Mohan and that he was a huge fan of  Kishore Kumar. Also he mentioned he was a passionate animal-lover, and lover of domestic pets. “You can call me a bulls-eye-range-target ‘hot-shot’!  It’s an adbhut-ajeeb coincidence that I am ‘shooting’ at targets as a hobby within the rifle shooting range at Worli Sea Face, while the camera is “shooting” me ‘live’ on locations and in studios. Performing comedy is not always a joke, it can fall flat if your timing is ‘broke’ ( poor-kadkaa). Effortless actor  ( FTII-Pune alumnus) modest Satish-bhai would laugh after making these witty comments..

Six years ago in Dec 2019, animal-lovers Satish and his wife Madhu seemed fascinated with African wildlife photography exhibition images co-hosted by photographer-actress legendary Waheeda Rehman and celeb-singer Roop Kumar Rathod----held at Nine Fish Art Gallery at Byculla in Mumbai.

During a pre-release party of movie Sachche Ka Bol Bala’ (1989), at a 5-star hotel, I remember legendary taskmaster producer-director Dev Anand praising Satish Shah as a ‘director’s delight’ and his fluent command over Hindi-Urdu and that with his ad-lib improvisation gifted-actor Satish gives his ‘best shot’ in every take !

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Candid, honest, outspoken, exuberant yet caring and sensitive, Satish Shah was a rare and gifted versatile artist whose work brought joy, laughter, and emotion to millions across the nation. Through his unforgettable performances in "Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi" (55 different characters), "Sarabhai vs Sarabhai" ( where he said—as ‘Indravadan-bhai’ he played ‘himself’), "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro" (lifeless ‘deadly’ corpse as he used to say), "Main Hoon Na’ (the spray spitfire quirky professor) ‘Hum Aapke Hai Koun’ (as Chacha-jaan Doctor) and numerous other landmark films and TV shows, he became a household name and a symbol of histrionic excellence in comedy, serious roles anchoring.

Veteran director Raju Subramanian, who ( along with Ashoke Pandit) assisted famous director Raman Kumar in the movie  Saath Saath ( 1982) edited by David Dhawan, which was one of Satish Shah’s initial movies where his screen-character was also called “Satish Shah,” recalled. “ Those days,  we even stayed in Satish’s house for many weeks, and we had great fun making the musical breezy comedy musical movie ‘Saath Saath’ which had chartbuster songs ( like ‘ Tumko Dekha Toh Yeh Khayaal Aaya’ ) sung by Jagjit Singh-Chitra Singh, and this song used to be one of his top favourites.

What was that "X-factor" about multi-talented real-life Satish?  Raju disclosed,“ Satish was an ardent animal lover, a ‘crack-shot’ at indoor range-shooting as a hobby, a die-hard romantic, a determined, diligent, impactful joshila actor, an agile dancer ( he could perfectly mimic Shammi Kapoor’s dance moves), and he would always add his magical improvising touch and rise high above the scripted character..   We were also witness to his initial romantic-courting phase ( with Madhu-jee), “ disclosed Raju with tears welling in his eyes.

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