The things actors have to do for a role sometimes go beyond their personal choice. Filmmaker-actor Satish Kaushik, who was flitting between the decision to smoke or not, finally relented for the love of art despite his health issues. Playing a don in ZEE5’s Bloody Brothers required the actor to smoke cigars.

“Shaad [Ali, director] said that the cigar could give my character an edge and style. I have a bit of bronchitis issue, [so I was worried], but he let me take the final call,” informed Kaushik and added that he often sipped warm water after every smoking scene.

“I realised that the smoke of the cigar surrounding my character would make it look interesting [on camera]. I usually mouth-fagged and timed it well to ensure that I looked convincing as don.”

The actor had quit smoking when he set out to direct Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993). “I quit smoking after shooting for the train robbery sequence in the film. I remember Veeru Devgan was on top of the train, and I was standing below, smoking while briefing him about the scene. He threatened to stop shooting until I stopped smoking. That’s how I quit the habit,” reminisces Kaushik.