You ring the doorbell and a maid ushers you into an aesthetically decorated room. A few minutes of surveying the antique furniture, sepiatoned photographs, awards and shields jostling for space on a pedestal later, you are greeted with warm ‘adaab’.

As soon as actor-director Sachin Pilgaonkar breezes in and occupies a small wooden chair, the smiling actor leaves you in no doubt that he is “in love with Urdu.” Known mostly by his screen name Sachin, he gets down to conversing in chaste Urdu. Words like “deeda-o-danishta” (intentionally), “khushgawar” (congenial), “jafa” (tyranny of the beloved) and “wafa” (trust) punctuate the conversation.

A pucca Maharashtrian whose mother tongue is Marathi, Sachin has just won the Mohsin-e-Urdu (Ambassador of Urdu) award from the citybased socio-cultural organisation Urdu Markaz for his “true love for Urdu.” “I have yet to come across a Maharashtrian whose mother tongue is Marathi but speaks Urdu so fluently. He is Urdu’s ambassador because he lives, speaks and bats for it,” explains Urdu Markaz’s director Zubair Azmi. Azmi adds that Byculla-based Burhani College too will be awarded the Mohsin-e-Urdu.

Before Independence, Urdu was spoken widely across north India, leaving a deep influence on films, literature and culture. Post-partition, it became synonymous with the minority community, a reminder of the event that divided the subcontinent. However, even today many legends in Hindi cinema, including Gulzar and Dharmendra continue to use Urdu extensively.

“A language has no religion. It is wrong to say Urdu is a language of Muslims alone. It belongs to India and has added to our literary and cultural heritage,” declares Sachin, who was all of 9 when he acted in Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay-penned, Hrishikesh Mukherjee-directed ‘Majhli Didi’ (1967) with Meena Kumari and Dharmendra in the lead. Meena Kumari grew very fond of the boy; one day she asked him about the language he spoke at home. “Marathi,” replied the then child actor. The legendary Meena Kumari whom Sachin called “Meena Apa’’ while she addressed him as “Sachu Baba”, asked him to bring his parents to the sets.

“Meena Apa told my parents to allow me to visit her home four days a week to learn Urdu. She said she saw a bright future for me in the industry provided I learnt the nuances and diction of the language and spoke it well,” recalls Sachin.

Thus began his intense tutoring in Urdu from the actress whose original name was Mahjabeen Bano. Bollywood’s tragedy queen, she also wrote poetry with Naaz as her takhalus (pen name). Having worked in 65 films as child artiste, he graduated and went on to act and direct a number of Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Bhojpuri films and television serials. If films like ‘Geet Gaata Chal’ (1975), ‘Balika Badhu’ (1976), ‘Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se’ (1978), ‘Sholay’ (1975) and ‘Satte Pe Satta’ (1982) made him a household name, the serial ‘Tu Tu Main Main’ (2000) established him as a known face on the small screen.

How much has Urdu helped him as an actor? “Oh, I would have remained adhura (incomplete) if Urdu had not come into my life. Why only acting, I would not have been the confident person I am today if I had not learned how to speak this beautiful language,” says the boy who grew up in a 1BHK flat in Dadar. Sachin later moved to Juhu, and then to Lokhandwala.

“I also enjoyed going to Meena Apa’s big house at Janki Kutir in Juhu because she would send a big car to pick me up from Dadar. For one hour, Meena Apa played table tennis with me while another hour was devoted to Urdu.”

After her demise, says Sachin, he was fortunate to have been taught by veteran poet-lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri, his neighbour in Juhu. Like other kids, Sachin addressed him as “Abba”. On one Eid, all the children lined up in Abba’s room to receive a 10-rupee note each as Eidi (gift). “Instead of money, he gave me a ghazal which he wrote in Devnagri before me,” he recalls. “It was my best award.”