Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 5, 2018)

Satya was a film which Ram Gopal Varma carried in his head along with the characters who populated this don drama. He gave them to his writers, Saurabh Shukla and Anurag Kashyap, to flesh out. “Ramu’s brief for Kallu Mama was that he was the father figure of the gang, very close to Bhiku Mhatre. And since Bhiku is close to Satya, he becomes a favourite with him too,” informs Saurabh, who focusing on the character’s psyche rather than the physicality, seamlessly slipped into the gangster’s shoes.

Prod him on whether Mahabharat’s Shakuni Mama was a muse and Saurabh laughs, “No, I don’t think he had anything to do with Kallu who wasn’t really anyone’s mama but respectfully called that by the gang for whom he’s like an elderly uncle-friend you can confide your secrets in.”

Manoj Bajpayee who played Bhiku, had moved to Mumbai with Saurabh from Delhi in 1993. The two hung out together for a long time before going their separate ways. Satya, which started in ‘97, was a reunion of sorts for them, as well as with other friends, including Anurag and Aditya Srivastava. “During the shoot, we were always there on the sets, irrespective of whether anyone was needed or not. And the party continued even after pack-up at one of our homes,” Saurabh reminisces with a smile.

Ramu had always been against the idea of having any songs in Satya, but not wanting to sever the musical connect with mainstream Indian cinema, his writers and actors, and even his assistant directors, insisted the maker incorporate a few songs and he finally relented. “The Ramu I remember was a brilliant director, very receptive to suggestion. Anyone could walk up to him and tell him something wasn’t working. He’d think about it and then decide if he agreed with them or not and do what he thought best,” says Saurabh.

In the case of Satya they had already shot a party sequence with the American DoP, Gerard Hooper, during his six-week stint in India, a popular chartbuster of the time playing in the background. “We later decided to reshoot the song with an original track. When we showed it to Gulzar saab and Bosky (Meghna Gulzar) they were amazed. ‘What kind of a film is this? We can actually smell the beer and the scent!’ they marvelled,” flashbacks the writer-actor.

Gulzar saab wrote “Goli Maar Bheje Mein” for the sequence, while Vishal Bhardwaj composed it. It was reshot by the film’s other cinematographer, Mazhar Kamran, at the same location, a standalone house near Mehboob Studio in Bandra, which they’d christened Kallu Mama’s den. “The other day, while passing by, I discovered the house had been pulled down and my heart broke,” Saurabh sighs.

Satya opened in the theatrees on July 3, 1998 and bagged six Filmfare Awards and a National Award for Best Supporting Actor for Manoj. Saurabh’s reward was that in the last 20 years, Kallu Mama has become synonymous with him. “Wherever I go, people either shout out ‘Kallu Mama’ or croon 'Goli Maar Bheje Mein'. It was a small role but I guess its simplicity and honesty struck a chord with everyone. It’s thanks to Satya that people walk up to me and tell me they are a fan. I remember one person in particular who said, ‘Sir, I loved you as Kallu Mama, but I love you more for writing a film like Satya.’ That’s the best compliment I’ve got,” he smiles.