Hindi cinema’s ‘Kunj Bihari’ comedian Satish Kaushik, 66, died while he was on his way to a Gurugram hospital in the early hours of Thursday. Kaushik, who acted, directed, wrote and produced a range of films over four decades, was loved and respected by many in the Hindi movie industry.
“His death was caused by a cardiac arrest. No injury marks were found on his body and neither was there any traces of alcohol in his system. There were also no signs or indications of any foul play. His blood and viscera samples have been preserved and sent for investigation,” said a source.
On 7 March, Satish Kaushik attended the Holbash of Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar in Mumbai. His photos and videos at the party were doing the rounds on the internet. A day later, he travelled to Delhi on Wednesday to attend a close friend’s Holi party when he reportedly fell sick, sources said.
Actor Anupam Kher, a close friend of Satish, was the first one to share the news of his demise on social media in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“Actor Satish Kaushik passes away,” Actor Anupam Kher tweets along with a picture of both actors.
In a tweet in Hindi, Kher wrote, “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 #SatishKaushik while alive. Such a sudden full stop on a friendship of 45 years!! Life will NEVER be the same without you SATISH! Om Shanti!”
The last rites of the multi-faceted artiste were held at the Versova crematorium here around 8.30 pm in the presence of his family members and close friends, including actor Anupam Kher and director Ashok Pandit.
A host of Kaushik’s industry friends and colleagues, including directors David Dhawan and Subhash Ghai, lyricist-poet Javed Akhtar, and actors Anupam Kher, Salman Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Tabu and Shilpa Shetty, visited his residence to offer their condolences.
Actor-director Farhan Akhtar along with wife Shibani Dandekar, Rakesh Roshan, Raj Babbar along with wife Nadira, Boney Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Johnny Lever, Vikrant Massey, Saiyami Kher, Tanvi Azmi, Ishaan Khatter, Indra Kumar, action director Sham Kaushal, singers Ila Arun and Anu Malik also visited his house to pay their last respects.
Kaushik, whose directing credits include “Tere Naam” and “Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai”, is survived by his wife Shashi and daughter Vanshika.
The Haryana-born Kaushik was raised in Delhi’s Karol Bagh and later moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in acting.