Ever since the death of his best friend Satish Kaushik in March, actor Anupam Kher has been making an effort to spend more time with the actor-filmmaker’s 11-year-old daughter, Vanshika. “Even before Satish’s death, I used to go to their place and talk to her a lot. But now, I go out of my way to spend time with her to make her feel that there is a father figure in her life. I can’t replace Satish in her life, nobody can. But I can certainly give her emotional strength,” he tells us.

On Friendship Day recently, Kher posted a picture with actor Anil Kapoor and Kaushik with the caption, “Missing Satish a little more today.” While the wound still feels fresh, he says in these moments with Vanshika, they both offer each other strength to cope. “Vanshika has lost her father at an impressionable age and I have lost a friend. She might not be able to express [her emotions] to her mother, thinking about her state of mind. She needs an outlet. I can’t bring Satish back, but I can relive our time together through conversations about him,” the 68-year-old adds.

Over the last few months, The Kashmir Files (2022) actor says he’s seen Vanshika “open up a bit more”. “She had become very quiet. Now, she tells me about her day, her friends and other stories about her life... My father used to say the easiest thing in the world is to make somebody happy. I just practise it,” he signs off.