Spot-on,always

“My first association with Ravi began way back in the eighties,when I was in Delhi. Having studied at the National School of Drama and also worked as a producer for Doordarshan,both Ravi and I were actively involved in theatre,albeit in different groups. Even though our work was a lot on parallel grounds it wasn’t long before we met. While I was shooting for my film Sparsh,I asked Ravi to help out with the various behind the stage details of the film,and he was always there to help us out,with a smile on his face.”

Paranjpe says that there was a long standing joke during the shooting of Sparsh wherein Baswani and his assistants would be referred to as Ravi and his merry men. “They were there everywhere. He had this magnetic quality and a carefree smile that would put anyone talking to him for the first time,at ease. Not only was he one of the most resourceful guys,who could waddle out of any situation,but he would do so with a carefree laugh,along with his chelas,” she adds.

It was his behind the screen work that prompted Paranjpe to cast him in her 1981 comedy film Chashme Buddoor. “He was an actor par excellence. I had seen his work as a theatre artiste,and I felt that I had to do a film with him. In fact that was the crux of Chashme Buddoor. The film which tells the story of three guys of which Ravi and Rajesh (Bedi),are useless young students,with Farooque (Sheikh) being the studious one. The entire point was that he got under the skin of the character seamlessly and it was his sly charm in the film that endeared him to a lot of people.”

“There was something about his comic timing. It was plain impeccable. I really do not know how he did it all but his razor sharp wit,and his wacky sense of humour interspersed with a dose of dry sarcasm was a quality that not many comedians in those days had. To put it in unadorned language,his acting was more like a whiff of fresh air,amidst all the mediocre stuff that was present back then,” she adds.

While Paranjpe and Baswani never worked on any other film after that,Paranjpe maintains that she admired and respected his work. “The feeling was mutual,” she says,adding,“I could not come up with a role for him,post Chashme Buddoor that would bring out his comic timing with such aplomb. While Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron,was a cult hit,I still feel it was his role in Chashme Buddoor that cemented his role as an actor. To put down his life in cinematic terms,Ravi was a person,who just enjoyed living his life. He was all about having a good time,and it is really sad that he was robbed of this happiness in such an untimely way.”