Rajkumar Santoshi, Ramesh Sippy, Ananth Mahadevan and Rajesh Mapuskar remember actor Viju Khote, who passed away on Monday
Avinash.Lohana and Akash.Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 1, 2019)

Viju Khote who rose to fame as Kaalia in Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, going on to top it with the bumbling Robert and his “galti se mistake ho gaya” punchline in Andaz Apna Apna, passed away at 6.55 am on Monday, peacefully in his sleep at home. “He had multiple organ failure and had been unwell for quite some time,” the 77-year-old actor’s niece, Bhavana Balsavar, was quoted as saying.

Sippy informed that he had met Viju through his actress-sister Shubha Khote who’d requested that the filmmaker meet him. “We called him in, he fit the role of Kaalia and became popular after Sholay’s release, receiving loud applause whenever he delivered the dialogue (“Sardar, maine aapka namak khaya hai”) on stage,” he reminisces, adding that he had met the late actor a few days ago at a play. “As always, he came forward, touched my feet and said, ‘Sir, you made my life.’ He was a humble and wonderful person.”

Rajkumar Santoshi, who had directed Viju in Ghayal before Andaz Apna Apna, went on to cast him in subsequent directorials like Ghatak, China-Gate, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Phata Poster Nikhla Hero. “He was a fantastic actor with very good timing. No one could’ve played Robert like he did. He would drop by whenever he was in Juhu. I’m currently writing the second part of Andaz Apna Apna and had a role for him in mind. He didn’t get the roles he deserved,” sighs Santoshi.

Ananth Mahadevan, whose association with the late actor dates back over 25 years, worked with him in several plays. The duo also went on to partner in the hit TV show, Zabaan Sambhal Ke. Viju also had a cameo in his actor-filmmaker friend’s 2015 directorial, Gour Hari Dastaan. “It’s sad that he’s gone, but he was ailing... I was fortunate to work with him on all the three platforms—films, theatre, TV—and had wanted to cast him in a lead role in one of my films but that never materialised,” he informs.

Ananth goes on to recount an incident that showcased Viju’s acting prowess. “We arrived in Kolkata to perform the play Yours, Mine and Ours and discovered that there was a bandh in the city. Worried that few people would turn up for our show, en route to the hotel, we wrote a skit titled Bandh-o-bust with Viju selling bandhs and I as the buyer. It was a huge success and everyone was amazed that we had pulled it off in just two hours. Only a theatre artiste could do that,” the actor-filmmaker reminisces.

Rajesh Mapuskar, who directed him in the 2016 Marathi comedy drama, Ventilator, was among the visitors at the Chandanwadi crematorium in Marine Lines for the last rites.

“Even if he didn’t have any scenes or rehearsals, he would be in my office. It worried me because he had to travel all the way from Girgaon but he insisted he didn’t like to sit at home,” the filmmaker shares, adding that another time, rehearsals for a scene with actor Jitendra Joshi, left the veteran actor in tears. “‘There was a time when I could remember the entire play, ab memory ki wajah se ek line nahin yaad aa rahi’, he had said. It moved me to tears too,” Rajesh concludes.