Cinema’s grandmaster takes his curtain call

Veteran actor Saeed Jaffrey, one of the most iconic names in Indian and international cinema, succumbed to a brain hemorrhage in London on Sunday. The news was broken by his niece Shaheen Aggarwal on her Facebook page. The reclusive actor, who abruptly took his leave from the Hindi film industry to settle down in London years ago, was one of the few to successfully leave a mark in the Hindi film industry as well as the West. One look at his filmography, and Jaffrey’s range as an actor is there for all to see. After making a mark with an iconic performance in Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi, he went on to work with more cinematic heavyweights such as Richard Attenborough, Sean Connery, Daniel Day Lewis, Sai Paranjpye, Shekhar Kapur to name a few. His co-actors remember him as a jovial person who spoke excellent Urdu, was a treasure trove of world cinema trivia and had a deep interest in poetry. Some of his colleagues shared their thoughts after the legend left us.

Dalip Tahil: It’s a really sad day for me. I knew Saeed saab not just professionally but I knew him very closely, personally as well. He was a wonderful person to be with — extremely charismatic and an excellent company. He’d speak such fluent Urdu and such wonderful English — he was really quite exceptional. Everyone knows that it was Saeed saab who broke the barriers for Asian actors to work in the West. He was one of those unique people who managed to straddle the West and the East.

He did so many films like The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston’s adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s same-titled novella, where Jaffrey shared the title credits with Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer). He did The Deceivers in 1988 with Pierce Brosnan and Shashi Kapoor. The film also starred Neena Gupta, Salim Ghouse, and myself and it was instrumental in helping many Asian actors to crossover to the cinema of the West. So, I pay tribute to him for that and also for the fact that he was a marvellous actor and my condolences to everyone. I’m really sorry to hear of his demise.

Om Puri: He was a wonderful actor and had done a lot of work in Britain. Although I did not know him personally, we had worked together in Tamas in 1987 and that’s how I know him. There was an Indian delegation that went to Kabul and he was a part of it as well. He was a prolific poet and would speak fluent Urdu. I have very pleasant memories of him.

Madhur Bhandarkar: I worked with him as assistant director for a film titled Gunehgar Kaun (1991) directed by Ashok Gaikwad. He was a very fun loving, down-to-earth man with a lot of humour. For me, it was just the beginning but he was a well-established actor by then. He had immense knowledge about world cinema and English cinema and used to willingly share that with me. It is a loss for the film industry and all the film buffs who have seen him as a versatile actor. He used to play the character of a villain, a comic or a serious role with aplomb. I always wanted to make a film with him after I achieved success in 2001 but he was settled in London by then and was away from the industry since a couple of years.

Jackie Shroff: I have worked with him in a couple of films directed by Subhash Ghai and the experience has been wonderful. It was nice to know a man of his calibre in this lifetime. He was a very jovial man; there was a gleam in his eyes like that of a magician. He was my senior and just watching him would be enough to learn about acting. Without even trying to teach anything, he taught a lot. He was graceful and dignified. May his soul rest in peace.

Gurinder Chadha: Saeed is very much a British Asian institution. He was one of the few actors who managed to shine in both British movies like Gandhi and Hindi movies like Chashme Buddoor. The ease with which he performed to perfection is indicative of his breadth of talent.