Satish Shah remembers fan’s insensitive request for ‘jokes’ while his wife was ‘dying’ in hospital: ‘I could’ve hit him’

He said, “They expect you to be funny even when one is in an environment where one has to be serious. It happens, but one has to live with it. My wife was seriously ill, she was almost dying on the operation table. And I was very tense, because we’d been married only for three months. I was sitting outside, very worried, and a guy comes to me and says, ‘Kya yaar, aap aise serious baithe ho, ache nahi lag rahe ho, koi joke-woke maaro (You look so glum, it doesn’t suit you. Why don’t you tell me a joke).”

Forget making a joke, Satish said, he could’ve hit him with a ‘knockout punch’ instead. “But somehow, better sense prevailed, and I just walked off. But it’s part of the baggage we carry.” The actor has been married to Madhu Shah since 1972.

In a career that goes back to the 1970s, Satish Shah remains best known for his comic roles in projects such as Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Main Hoon Na, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. His last major theatrical film was Humshakals nearly a decade ago, and he said that the experience wasn’t the greatest, and made him question why he’s still acting in the first place. He has since been on an extended sabbatical.