Journalism of Courage
Last week, theatre director Saif Hyder Hasan met actor Satish Kaushik in Mumbai and they talked about reviving their successful play Mr and Mrs Murarilal as post-pandemic, requests had started coming in from several cities in India and the Middle East. Kaushik, who was busy with OTT projects, was enthusiastic to get back on stage. “He asked me to send him an email about the details of the play. I never got around to sending it,” says Hasan.
The theatre community is grappling with the loss of Kaushik, who had made his acting journey on the stage. One of Kaushik’s most notable performances was as a tragic lead character in Salesman Ramlal, directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, based on Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. “The play is the journey of an ordinary man with extraordinary dreams. I found it fascinating to do this play, which is so layered… I also had the privilege of working with an actor whom I admire ie Satish Kaushik. I felt that there is a very fine sensitive actor in him,” said Khan at the Prithvi Theatre Festival in 2013.
Kaushik had passed out of the National School of Drama (NSD) in 1978, with a specialisation in Acting, and remained a life-long admirer of the institute. He joined the NSD Repertory Company as an Apprentice Fellow, where he stayed till he left for Mumbai in 1979. At the NSD Repertory, Kaushik acted in Men Without Shadows, Nautanki Laila Majnoon, Bichhu, Danton’s Death, Bhagwadajjukiyam and Mukhyamantri, among others.
“I was shocked and saddened to hear about the sudden demise of one of our greatest alumni, an eminent actor, director and producer. He was an incredible person and great ambassador of film and theatre. It is an irreparable loss. On behalf of the NSD family, and also on my personal behalf, my sincerest condolences to his family, friends and admirers. May the divine soul rest in peace,” said Ramesh Chandra Gaur, Director, NSD.
Kaushik kept returning to NSD— to stage Salesman Ramlal at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav, NSD’s theatre festival, in 2002; as a member of the NSD Society from 2002 to 2005 and as a guest when the institute held the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – 22nd Bharat Rang Mahotsav, 2022, in Mumbai.
The NSD training was evident decades later when Hasan was directing Mr and Mrs Murarilal, a commercial production. Kaushik believed in working till the last, unlike Hasan, who preferred to stop rehearsals one day before a show.
It was at another institution in Delhi that Kaushik had honed Kaushik’s talent before he joined NSD. The Players, the dramatic society of Kirori Mal College (KMC) in Delhi, was under the legendary Prof Frank Thakurdas at the time. Thakurdas encouraged Kaushik, a student of science, to pursue dramatics and read great works of literature, including the Natya Shastra. “Senior to me by a year at KMC, we were all in awe of how easy Satish made acting look. Never without a grin on his face even then, he was for me the epitome of a team man. I remember him today mainly for his constant and graceful acknowledgement of Prof Thakurdas, The Players, and KMC in giving shape to his life,” says Keval Arora, an actor and director as well as a teacher of literature and drama who has inspired students to follow their hearts.
At KMC, Kaushik was directed in his early plays by Man Mohan Bhasin. On Thursday, Bhasin came to terms with his loss by writing a poem on his friend and sifting through old photographs and sketches. “In 1972, when we joined KMC together, after our school Harcourt Butler, there was an inter-class competition conducted by The Players in which I decided to participate. I wrote a play, Shatranj, and shared it with Satish, who also readily agreed to participate,” says Bhasin. It was the first play of their lives and they went to Buddha Jayanti Park to rehearse. “On the day of competition, the hall was jam-packed and students, who were hooting down any and every play. Many performers were demoralised and curtains were closing half-way.I told Satish that, come what may, we will not call it curtains till after the last scene. We did it despite the deafening hooting and flying tomatoes and paper planes on stage. After the show, we hugged each other as if we won the competition. It was our first lesson on stage— the show must go on,” he says.
