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Ravi Baswani, the man who never forgot to tickle our funny bones with his comedic roles in movies, his name became synchronous with every comedic role in the 1980s.
Died on 27th July 2010
Ravi Baswani, one of the best comedic actors the country has seen is remembered for the multitude of roles he’s played his entire life. May it be the college-going chap, Jomo from Chashme Baddoor (1981) or the first victim of the scammer couple from Bunty Aur Babli, shot in 2005. He wore each of his ‘characters’ like camouflage and blended in his role with flamboyance.
Out of all of these roles, he is mostly remembered for playing the role of Sudhir Mishra, an inveterate photographer from the movie Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983). It was this role that won him the Filmfare - Best Comedian Award in the year 1984.
Kundan Shah, the director of the movie, had once said this…
“To me, Ravi was Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro… He was the comic cement of the film. When I got him on board, I knew that a key component had been taken care of.”
Ravi was born and raised in Delhi. He belonged to a Jat family and was sent to Mussoorie for his schooling. Oh and another thing about him is that he had a pursuit for acting. This was fulfilled during his college days when he became a part of the dramatics society of the Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. He was the man who came and turned around the scene of Hindi dramas; they became more popular due to his presence.
Being a self-driven man, Ravi did not receive any training in the field of acting, it was almost as if acting came to him naturally. In fact, he even taught theatre at a school in New Delhi for a short time in the 70s.
While aspiring actors found themselves moving to Mumbai to pursue their dreams, Ravi was reluctant to do so. He was a Delhi boy in and out, and was not open to the prospect of moving to any other city.
He worked as a management trainee after graduation, he thought that if cinema was ever going to be a part of his life, it would come to him no matter wherever he went.
While working as a trainee, he still kept in touch with acting through the Delhi theatre circuit. It was through this connection that he met Naseeruddin Shah. Naseeruddin was preparing for his role as a blind man at the time, for the movie Sparsh (1980).
Ravi got a chance to read the script of the film and felt extremely intrigued by its plot. He told Naseeruddin that he wanted to be involved in the film, even if it meant that he was to work as a spot boy.
Naseeruddin managed to get him a job in the production department, but it was not long before he impressed Paranjpye, who offered him a role in her movie, which was to be shot in Mumbai. Without a second thought, Ravi agreed to play a comedic role in his debut film, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. The rest, as we all know, is history.
Ravi Baswani worked on almost 30 films throughout his film career which lasted for 30 years. His sarcasm and wit glued the eyes of millions to the screen, several of them went to watch a film only because he was to play a role in it.
Unfortunately, while scouting locations for one of his upcoming debut directorial films, Ravi had a massive heart attack and died while he was on his way from Nainital to Delhi, at Haldwani. On this day, in 2010, Bollywood lost one of its greatest comedians, Ravi Baswani, who was 63 at the time.
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