Brick Lane and Bollywood star Satish Kaushik has died at the age of 66 after suffering a heart attack.
His nephew Nishaan Kaushik confirmed the sad news to the BBC, revealing his uncle had passed away on Thursday morning.
Satish was travelling in a car in the Indian capital of New Delhi at the time and was rushed to hospital, but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
Days earlier the actor had been celebrating Holi, the Hindu Festival of Colours, and tweeted he was having “Colourful Happy Fun.”
As well as acting, he wore many hats in the Hindi film industry and also worked as a director, producer, screenwriter and comedian.
He starred in over 150 films, mainly in Bollywood, landing his breakout role in the 1987 hit Mr India, where he played a cook called Calendar.
But in the UK fans might know him best for playing Chanu Ahmed, the husband in the critically-acclaimed 2007 film Brick Lane directed by Sarah Gavron.
Adapted from the 2003 novel by Monica Ali, it follows the story of Nazneen, who grows up in rural Bangladesh but is married off to an educated man in London (Chanu).
Married to a man she doesn’t love but has two children with, Nazneen must navigate her own desires and happiness while trying to survive in a country that is not her own.
The film was later nominated for a BAFTA and won a British Film Festival award for Best Screenplay.
Paying tribute to Satish, Javed Akhtar, an Indian screenwriter and poet, shared a photo of them together celebrating Holi on Twitter.
He captioned the post: “Satish a man of full warmth love and humour was like a brother to me since almost forty years. He was twelve years younger than me. Satish, it was not your turn.”
Satish’s best friend and fellow actor Anupam Ker also paid tribute on social media saying: “I know ‘death is the ultimate truth of this world’ but I never thought in my dreams that I would write this thing about my best friend #SatishKauskik while alive.
“Such a sudden full stop of friendship of 45 years!! Life will NEVER be the sme without you SATISH!”
Born on April 13, 1956, Satish grew up in a middle class family in Delhi’s Karol Bagh area.
He later went on to study at the city’s Kirori Mal College. It was here he developed his love of theatre.
But although he had passion and moved to Mumbai in 1979 to pursue his dreams of becoming an actor, his career didn’t come easily.
Satish had to work hard not to be typecast in comedy roles and was reportedly sometimes considered “too overweight” to play the lead in films.
Yet he went on to have a successful career spanning three decades and directed films on subjects that mattered to millions.
His last release as a director was the 2021 film Kaagaz, which follows the story of a man who is declared dead by officials.
Satish is survived by his wife Shashi, who he married in 1985. They had a son who died in 1996 at the age of two. Their daughter was born via a surrogate in 2012.
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