Veteran actor Ratna Pathak Shah has penned a moving tribute to her late Sarabhai vs Sarabhai co-star Satish Shah. She recalled his unmatched comic genius, generosity on set, and the laughter he spread till his very last day.
In her column for The Indian Express, titled ‘Goodbye Satish, thank you for the laughs,’ Ratna shared that Satish’s final act, fittingly, carried his trademark humour.
Ratna revealed that just hours before his passing, Satish had sent her a humorous WhatsApp message. “I’m often mistaken for an adult because of my age.” She had jokingly replied, “That’s just right for you!” Barely an hour later, she received a message from producer JD Majethia, “Satishbhai is no more.”
“As it sank in, it became even more unbelievable,” she wrote. “Satish gone! A man determined to live life more fully, laugh at it and take every blow on the chin and come out smiling, gone!”
Ratna reminisced about her early years working with Satish in Filmi Chakkar (1993–95), describing him as her “comedy school.” Having already mastered the craft through classics like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Satish not only guided his co-actors but also rewrote unfunny scripts and lifted entire scenes with his timing and humility. “He never hogged the show,” she wrote, “and that made the series the success it was.”
The camaraderie evolved into magic years later with Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, where Ratna and Satish’s chemistry as Maya and Indravadan became sitcom legend. “It was a no-brainer that Satish would play Indravadan,” she said, calling the show “a magical amalgam of energies.”
Ratna also shared anecdotes of Satish’s mischievous streak from pranking guests with his pet python to teasing Naseeruddin Shah, who was terrified of snakes. “Everyone felt Satish was never serious,” she observed. “He found the quirky track in every situation.”
Reflecting on his funeral, she wrote, “We saw him totally silent — the unstoppable, stopped mid-sentence.” She described his wife Madhu’s heartbreak, but also how the Sarabhai family rallied together to celebrate his life with songs, laughter, and love.
As rain fell during his memorial, Ratna concluded, “Maybe the heavens were weeping in fear as the enfant terrible of Indian comedy charged their way.”
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