MUMBAI: Actor Govinda, whose chemistry with Satish Kaushik became famous in the many comedies they featured in the 90s and early 2000s, remembered the actor-filmmaker as someone who improvised a lot before his scenes, often writing dialogues to bring in more laughs.
Govinda, who has acted in many films with Kaushik most notably in Saajan Chale Sasural, Deewana Mastana, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Pardesi Babu, Aunty No.1, Haseena Maan Jaayegi, and Kyo Kii Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta among others, remembered him as a great artist.
"When I look back today at all the movies that we acted in together, I feel very sad that we lost him. Every actor acts, but he was someone who would understand things and then perform (woh samaj ke acting karte thay)," Govinda told PTI.
Kaushik died of a heart attack while he was on his way to a Gurugram hospital in the early hours of Thursday. He was 66.
One of the most famous characters from the Govinda-Kaushik films is that of Pappu Pager, a contract killer from the film Deewana Mastana.
The 1997 romantic-comedy is directed by David Dhawan and it features Govinda, Anil Kapoor, and Juhi Chawla in pivotal roles.
The scene between Govinda, who played the role of Bunnu, and Kaushik's Pappu Pager, whom he contracts to bump off his romantic adversary Raja (Anil Kapoor), has a separate fan following.
Wearing a floral shirt with sunglasses and a pager in his hand, Kaushik stood out in the scene courtesy his rhyming 'tapori' lingo.
Recalling how that scene came to be, Govinda said, "For Deewana Mastana, when I went to the set, he had already written (some lines). The scene was a huge hit and is still remembered by fans because we worked on the language of Nagpada (a popular area in South Mumbai), where in every word there is 'na'. We both jointly worked on that scene. He had written his dialogues and I had also written something," Govinda said.
The 59-year-old actor, who is currently in Jaipur, said he is unable to come to terms with the sudden loss of his friend and colleague.
"There are a lot of artists, who work in filmy 'maahul' but he was an actor, who would make any character memorable with his sheer hard work. He would dive into that world completely and become like that character.
"There are so many actors who play such good roles but how many characters become part of history? The characters played by Satish Kaushik are historic, they are remembered even now and will always be," Govinda added.