As news of Kundan Shah’s death comes in, his colleagues and well-wishers remember the director of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Nukkad, Waaghle Ki Duniya and other classics.
Oh my friend I miss you. I know you will bring smiles around wherever you are... but this world will laugh less now. RIP.Shah Rukh Khan, Actor (via Twitter)
Neena Gupta describes Kundan as a “task master” and says her experience of working with him was very interesting.
He was a hard task master. When we were doing ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’, his focus was only the film and nothing else. In fact, he would quickly finish his lunch and tell us to get back to work because it was a small budget film. It was a crazy kind of an experience. It was like doing theatre. I was very young and very new to the field, so it was a very interesting experience. I felt like a part of the cast and crew. It was really nice working for it. At that time, I couldn’t imagine the film would go on to become a classic. We were just thankful to get the role that we enjoyed playing.Neena Gupta, Actor
Satish Shah says that he has yet to come to terms with the passing away of Kundan Shah.
Kundan was a classmate of mine at FTII. I featured in his student film. I featured in his first ad film, I featured in his first feature film and I featured in his first television series. Everything was great when we were together. I am actually very dumbfounded I just came from his house and now again going back.Satish Shah, Actor
Habib Faisal describes Kundan Shah’s classic as “comfort food”.
I didn’t know him personally but we all love his work. I can’t tell you how many times exactly I have watched ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’. But yes, it’s like... comfort food. Like, as a writer, if I get stuck or am not able to solve a problem.And not even just professionally, if something is bothering me, I just watch ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’. Like I said, it’s comfort food.Habib Faisal, Screenwriter and Director
Kundan Shah directed a couple of my TV episodes in the mid-90s. he was not only a genius filmmaker , but also a very nice human being. Strict, funny and father-like. He was so simple. I firstly couldn’t believe the director of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro was coming to direct us, I felt very honoured. Lunch time, I saw something which I haven’t seen in my entire life; I saw Kundan standing in the line with the other unit members to have lunch. And seeing that, everyone, the DOP, the editor, everyone was standing in line. Because what Kundan told me, ‘Every person, right from the director to the actor to the person standing on the ceiling banging nails’, every person is equal on the set. That was unique of him.Sajid Khan
Talking about his favourite moment in the film, he said, “I must’ve seen Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, like, 200 times. The ‘Thoda Khau Thoda Pheko’ scene from the film is extremely funny, and the climax is extraordinary. And there’s one scene in the film with Naseeruddin Shah and Satish Kaushik are talking on the phone, and they come back-to-back in the same room; that is to the level of Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers hating it out together. Two very funny, great actors doing great comedy. They were all a whacked out team and didn’t even know what they were making. I guess that’s what makes the film such a classic, an unintentional classic”.
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