गोवर्धन असरानी का 84 साल की उम्र में निधन: मौत की खबर राज रखने की थी आखिरी इच्छा, अंतिम संस्कार में महज 20 लोग हुए शामिल

Govardhan Asrani, who played the role of a British-era jailer in the blockbuster film Sholay, passed away at 1 pm on Monday. He breathed his last at the age of 84. The actor was admitted to the hospital 4 days ago, where he died. His chest was filled with water. The news of the actor’s demise has been confirmed by his manager Babubhai Thiba in a conversation with Dainik Bhaskar.

The last wish was to keep the news of his death hidden

Babubhai Thiba told Dainik Bhaskar that before his death, Asrani had expressed his wish to his wife that the news of his death should not be given to anyone. He didn’t want a ruckus. He had said that everyone should be informed only when the last rites are performed. This was the reason that he was cremated immediately after his death, after which the news of his death was made public. Babubhai Thiba has told that only 15-20 people from the family attended Asrani’s funeral. His last rites were performed at the crematorium in Shantinagar, Santa Cruz.

Asrani married actress Manju Bansal, with whom he fell in love during the shooting of the films ‘Aaj Ki Taja Khabar’ and ‘Namak Haram’.

The last post related to Diwali was made just a few hours before his death.

On Monday afternoon, a post was released from the official social media account of Govardhan Asrani, in which he wished everyone a happy Diwali.

Last post made from Asrani’s social media account.

Asrani has worked in about 350 films in his acting career. These include Sholay, Abhiman, Chupke Chupke, Chhoti Si Baat, Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Asrani’s dialogue ‘We are jailers of the British era’ spoken by Asrani in the film Sholay was a big hit.

Gave last interview to Dainik Bhaskar

Just before his death, Asrani gave his last interview to Dainik Bhaskar. He spoke to us in August on the special occasion of Sholay completing 50 years. On playing the role of a jailer in the film Sholay, he had said- ‘I didn’t know anything about the film. I thought the producer-director was calling for a role. When I went to meet, I met Salim-Javed along with Ramesh Sippy. Javed Saheb narrated the script that attention, we are the jailers of the British era. This character is an idiot, but he seems to be the smartest man in the world. I thought that I have never played such a character. He gave me a book to read set during World War II. There were 10-12 poses of Hitler in it.

‘He told that before coming out in public, Hitler used to rehearse with the photographer in his room wearing army dress. I captured 3-4 poses from them and brought the same attitude in the character. The film was too long so my scene was cut. A journalist in Nagpur saw that scene and said that that scene is the life of the film. Then later my scene was added. Even today people recognize me because of this character.

Asrani’s character in the film Sholay.

‘I felt that if I made a mistake in what Javed Saheb had read out, not only the director would be hit, but the writer would also be hit. I practiced the dialogues for 10 days before the shooting started. I remembered one thing from Ashok Kumar that memorize the dialogues and leave the rest to the director. They will get the work done as per their convenience. Accordingly, I had made complete preparations before going for the shooting. I don’t think anyone else could have played the character except the jailer.

Asrani had said- Even today people recognize me by the name of jailer.

In his last interview he had said- ‘I was just shooting in a village near Kota in January. All the villagers gathered. There was a four year old little girl in it. The producer told that the girl and her mother want to meet. I wondered whether a four-year-old little girl would recognize an actor, but as soon as the girl saw me, she said, “That Asrani jailer.” I think this is a victory of a character.

This is a loss for the entire industry – Raza Murad

When Dainik Bhaskar spoke to Raza Murad on Asrani’s demise, he refused to believe the news. After expressing his regret for some time, he said, ‘This is very sad news. He has been my teacher. He has taught for 2 years. He was also with me in Namak Haram. This is a huge loss. I will go to his house tomorrow.

‘He used to take our imagination class, he used to take our scene class, he used to take 4-4, 5-5 classes of emotional memory. His full name is Govardhan Asrani. His birthday was on 1 January. Her first film was Hare Kanch Ki Chudiyan. He was our teacher and also our companion. For the first time I worked with him in Namak Haram.

‘I worked under his direction also, it’s my heart. To keep laughing was his life. I have never seen him sad. Always kept laughing and smiling. Everyone has to go, but he did a lot of work and earned a lot of fame. There are very few such talented and versatile actors. He played the role of a villain in Hera Pheri and in an effort. Well, he has done comedy in many films. He played a very good character in Chandru’s Abhimaan. This is a loss for the entire film industry. Age had no effect on him. Kept laughing and playing. Who will forget the role of the British jailer in Sholay? Wherever he went, the public wanted to hear from him the jailer’s dialogues of the British era. When he was our teacher, he was very serious, we never thought that he would become such a big comedian.

Very sad to hear that he is no more in this world – Sholay Director Ramesh Sippy

Talking to Dainik Bhaskar on Asrani’s demise, Sholay director Ramesh Sippy said, it is very sad to hear. He was a very lovely man. Earlier he played a small role in Sita Aur Geeta. After that, when the role of the jailer of Sholay was made, we called him and he did wonders. He embraced the role so much as if he was the character himself. He made it very easy for me. Such a good character, such a good actor, the combination of both was good. It is very sad to hear that he is no more in this world.

A look at Asrani’s acting career

Born on January 1, 1941 in Jaipur, Asrani’s father owned a carpet shop. The father wanted his children to grow up and take over his business, but Asrani was interested in films. Asrani graduated from Rajasthan College, Jaipur. He used to work as a voice artist in All India Radio to meet the expenses of his studies.

In the year 1960, he enrolled in Sahitya Kalbhai Thakkar and learned acting. As soon as he completed his course in 1962, he reached Mumbai to look for work, but did not get any opportunity. In 1963, Kishore Sahu and Hrishikesh Mukherjee recognized his talent, but advised him to learn professional acting.

In 1964, Asrani enrolled at the Film and Television Institute of Pune. After completing the course after 2 years, he got a job in the film Hare Kanch Ki Chudiyan, which was released in 1967. During this time, popular filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee gave him a role in the 1969 film Satyakam, which gave him recognition. After this, the film Guddi released in 1971 made him successful. Since then he started getting work in films continuously.

Did 25 films with Rajesh Khanna

Asrani worked with Rajesh Khanna in the film Bawarchi. The friendship between the two became very deep on the set. Rajesh Khanna liked Asrani’s work so much that he asked the producers to cast Asrani as a comedian in each of his films. Similarly, Asrani had worked in about 25 films of Rajesh Khanna.

In many of Amitabh’s films, he played hero roles, such as ‘Chander’ in Abhiman (1973) and Prashant Kumar Srivastava in ‘Chupke Chupke’ (1975). The character of Nagesh Shastri played by him in ‘Chhoti Si Baat’ (1975) is also no less than a hero. Asrani succeeded in attracting the attention of the audience by speaking a dialogue in ‘Sholay’ (1975). His dialogue ‘British era jailer’ is now Asrani’s identity.

Asrani was last seen in the films Nonstop Dhamaal and Dream Girl 2, released in the year 2023. Apart from this, he has been seen in many films like Bodyguard with Salman Khan, Kyun Ki, De Dana Dan with Akshay Kumar, Khatta-Meetha, Welcome, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Bhagam Bhag. In the coming days, he was going to be seen in the film Khali-Bali with actress Ekta Jain.

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