Bollywood actor Satish Kaushik suffered a heart attack in New Delhi and died on Wednesday at the age of 66. The actor-filmmaker, who was an alumnus of the National School of Drama and Film and Television Institute of India, began his career in theatre before starting in films. Some of his notable early works include Kundan Shah’s cult 1983 hit Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, in which he starred alongside Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani and Neena Gupta.
In her autobiography Sach Kahun Toh, which was published a couple of years ago, Neena Gupta spoke about her long friendship with Kaushik, and revealed that when she became pregnant with cricketer Viv Richards’ child, Kaushik suggested to her that she pass the child off as his after getting married. Neena was unmarried at the time, and was anticipating backlash for having a child, reports Indian Express.
He told Bombay Times, “I was concerned about not letting her feel alone. At the end of the day, that’s what friends are for, right?” He said that his offer to marry her ‘was a mix of humour, concern, respect, and support’, and that he told her, “Main hoon na, tu chinta kyu karti hai?”
Hours before his death, the actor had celebrated Holi with several Bollywood celebrities at Javed Akhtar’s house.
Actor and director Satish Kaushik, who died at the age of 67 on Wednesday, shared his last post on Twitter from a Holi party organised by ace lyricist Javed Akhtar and his actor-wife Shabana Azmi. Satish Kaushik on Tuesday posted several pictures as he celebrated the occasion with his friends from the Hindi film industry and was even excited to meet the newly married couple Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha.
In the photos, Satish was seen in an orange coloured T-shirt and white pants and was seen giving perfect smile while posing for the pictures.
He captioned the post, "Colourful Happy Fun #Holi party at Janki Kutir Juhu by @Javedakhtarjadu @babaazmi @AzmiShabana @tanviazmi.. met the newly wed beautiful couple @alifazal9 @RichaChadha.. wishing Happy Holi to everyone (rose and hibiscus emojis)." He also added the hashtags--friendship, festival, Holi 2023, and colors.
