New Delhi: On Satish Kaushik's 67th birth anniversary, Anupam Kher hosted a 'Satish Kaushik Night' session which he streamed live on his YouTube channel. Attended by the who's who of the industry, many of the veteran actor's close friends and associates recalled anecdotes and fond memories associated with him. Among many who spoke, actor Shabana Azmi also recalled memories of Satish Kaushik.
Shabana Azmi shared that Satish Kaushik was someone who always kept smiling. She also recalled a rather interesting anecdote about the veteran actor's life. Sharing that Kaushik offered to show his X-Ray reports to director Shyam Benegal when he called to make an offer for the highly-acclaimed film 'Mandi'. Azmi shared, "Once, he walked out of a nursing home with his X-rays in his hand. That is when Shyam Benegal, who had heard from someone that Satish Kaushik is a great actor, called him. He told Satish to bring some of his photos and come to his house. Satish looked at the X-rays and joked, ‘Shyam babu, main X-ray bhej dunga, kyunki andar se main bohot khoobsurat hun( I will share my X-rays as well because I am quite beautiful from the inside)."
Satish Kaushik passed away due to a heart attack in March this year. He is survived by his wife Sashi and daughter Vanshika.
Narrating another incident about the failure of 'Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja' which was Satish Kaushik's directorial debut that bombed at the box office, Shabana Azmi said, "Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja had failed and he decided that, ‘Now I should die.’ He was on the first floor and when he looked down from there, there was a party going on. He saw some potatoes were being fried there. He thought, ‘If I will die after falling into these potatoes, it will be a bad death.’ So, he dropped the idea.”
Shabana Azmi also shared that Satish Kaushik was very sensitive when it came to his daughter Vanshika. She shared that when he and Vanshika were infected by COVID-19, Kaushik could not bear separation from his daughter and asked Azmi to do something that would make the doctors shift Vanshika to his room. And, not until Vanshika recovered fully did Kaushik breathe a sigh of relief.