Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra who worked on the screenplay and story of Kundan Shah’s iconic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) featuring Satish Shah as Commissioner D’Mello shares memories of working with the late actor, in conversation with HT city.

Sudhir recalls, “Kundan had brought in a lot of new people like Nasser (Naseeruddin Shah) Om (Puri) and Satish, who was also from FTII. Kundan and Satish were classmates who had collaborated on Bonga, their diploma film. Among all the actors in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Satish and Ravi Baswani were most comfortable with the idea that it was not a realistic art film. The film was funny and made a point, they were in tune with the nonsense that Kundan used to talk about. During the famous coffin scene, Renu (Saluja, editor) had the idea that there should be an intercut. What sense did it make to focus on a dead body? But that’s when Satish started changing his expressions in the scene and that became a pattern. It was the same with the Mahabharata scene. The idea of comedy as a farce, yet milking the scene to its fullest, came naturally to Satish. The rhythm and timing came naturally to him, so he was in tune with the way Kundan wanted to work. Shooting with him was great fun and we shot for 72 hours at a stretch but the energy was unmatched.”

Sharing some of his favourite moments from the film and memories of their other work together, Mishra adds, “I still remember some of those famous lines like ‘Thoda khao thoda phenko.’ I went on to work with him in Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho, and he was just amazing each time.”