Laugh Riot: Birthday Boy Satish Shah Is a Class Apart

The Shah of Comedy is known best for his zany comic capers.

Satish Shah needs no introduction to movie or TV lovers in India. Known for his impeccable comic timing and unique acting style, Shah has been mostly playing the funny man on screen for decades now. He is back as ‘Narad Muni’ Indravadan in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai Take 2 after a break - by his own admission, he has been focusing on quality rather than quantity.

On his 66th birthday (25 June), here’s looking at Satish Shah’s incredible journey on the silver screen.

A FTII graduate, Satish Shah made his way into India’s heart with his turn in the 80s sitcom Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, where he mindbogglingly played 64 different characters. He debuted on the big screen with Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan in 1978 and has since worked in around 200 films.

Whether alone or with colleagues ranging from Ravi Vaswani to Naseeruddin Shah to Anupam Kher, Shah has always held his own.

Satish is a master of improvisation. There are very few actors who can improvise so much and so quickly.

Naseeruddin Shah, Actor

Even after all these years Shah is lauded for his role as the corrupt municipal commissioner D’Mello in the 1984 iconic film Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. Everyone agrees that only he can make even a corpse super funny.

Shah’s waistline could have of course wrecked his acting career. But surprisingly nimble on his feet, he is known to be an efficient dancer and an enthusiastic sportsperson. Remember the ‘Gujju’ dance in Kal Ho Na Ho?

He can out-dance anybody on the floor and is a keen sportsman.

Manjul Sinha, co-director, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi

Shah however, has cut down on his film work now. He rues that the movies do not allow him the creative freedom that TV does.

Regrettably, I did not enjoy doing comedy in cinema as much as I did on television. For me, both humour and comedy are different. I was given a free hand in doing humour on television but cinema has so many other factors controlling things.

Satish Shah, Actor

The actor also emphasises that toilet humour or set formats as seen in popular TV comedy shows like that of Kapil Sharma’s is not for him.

I belong to a different genre or generation. In films, especially, I get disgusted with the kind of humour that has come up. I am so happy that I did not accept some films that were offered to me. My humour is a little sophisticated... I have no complaints against the comedians today, whether it is Kapil or Krushna. I like the way they improvise the situation and sometimes even save it. But, as I said I get bored watching the same format after a while. However, their shows are getting good TRPs, which means the audience is liking them. Who am I to say they aren’t good? 

Satish Shah

Well, for our sake we hope Shah continues to act for a long time to come and keeps the laughs coming.

(Additional inputs: Hindustan Times, DNA, India Today)

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