Filmmaker Kundan Shah, director of the cult black comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and the romantic drama Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa , died in his sleep after suffering a cardiac arrest in Mumbai on October 7. He was 69.
Tributes are pouring in for Mr. Shah, who also gave the industry some much-loved television shows like Nukkad and Wagle Ki Duniya. He would have turned 70 on October 19.
Tributes
President Ram Nath Kovind
Sad to learn of film director Kundan Shah’s demise. Best remembered for his Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron . Condolences to his family. - On Twitter
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Anguished by the passing away of Shri Kundan Shah. He will be remembered for his wonderful usage of humour and satire to showcase the life & struggles of common citizens. My thoughts are with his family & admirers. May his soul rest in peace. - On Twitter
Pavan Malhotra
Kundan Shah gave me my first job which was Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro . I came to Bombay for a play but then I got this movie so I went back to Delhi to inform my parents and came back to be the production assistant for the film. I handled props and costumes. But being a small budget film, I did everything else too. I assisted him. Then I worked with him for TV shows like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi , Nukkad , Circus and some others.
I never worked with him after that but we would meet. When Saeed Akhtar Mirza’s operation happened, we would meet at the hospital. The last I met him for three months ago at Mirza’s place where I spent the whole evening with him only actually. He was a hardworking man and very passionate about cinema. Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Kundan Shah were a group of sorts and helped each other out. Every time one of them had a script they used to sit together and rip the script apart. He would not leave his actors even after 15 shots if he wasn’t happy with it. Even if it was just a master shot. Kundan Shah was a task master. Even if it was 10.15 in the night and we had to wrap up by 10.30, he would say, “ Aur ek shot lete hain ”. He wouldn’t let go. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro ke baad aisi koi picture bani kya? Nahi . It was one of its kind. He will always be remembered, if for nothing else then for that film. - As told to Kennith Rosario
Ashutosh Gowariker
I am really saddened to hear of the premature passing away of one of the greatest filmmakers of our time Mr. Kundan Shah.
I feel very fortunate to have worked as an actor with Kundan. I have a great memories of Circus with him but also of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa , wherein I played Imran, the drummer. These two experiences are etched in my memory forever. What I love most is that his films are specially marked by sparkling screenplays. All his humour is in the script. The actors have to just portray what is written. His situations are brilliantly comic. Once during the making of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa he had given me a peek in his office cupboard, wherein lay more than 30 scripts. Scripts written by him!! Those will sadly remain as scripts.
Kundan is often categorised as someone who made comedies, especially with Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro being the classic, but actually, he reveals much more than just comedy in each of his films — satire, drama, social comment — he had a keen eye for life and life’s surprises that get thrown on people and how people react to them.
Will miss him deeply!’
Shekhar Kapur
Kundan Shah was too humble. Too shy. Wish he was more assertive about his genius. We needed him to be. Had greater potential than all of us. Amongst the greatest satires ever made in history of Indian Cinema Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. KundanShah has never been bettered. Absolute genius RIP - On Twitter
Vidya Balan
For me, Kundan Shah's Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na stands out. It's one of those films that could've fallen into the bracket of art cinema at that time, because it was not a very glossy telling of a story. There was something warm about the film and the way he told it. There was everything in the film: hope, romance and music. He humanised characters including a gunda. That's something special about him. You can watch Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro a million times. But you'll still be awestruck by how funny it is. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to work with him many many years ago. We were supposed to work together but it didn't quite happen. This was 5-6 years ago, on a script that didn't materialise. I actually didn't know this and I was completely taken aback when they told me this news a while ago. - As told to Kennith Rosario
Ranjit Kapoor
Ours has been a 35-year-old friendship. We started together in this industry. Jaane Bhi Do… was his first film as a director and my first film as a writer. It was Ravi Baswani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra who got us together. I told him that I’d write it only if the subject appealed to me. I was in Delhi, he came there to meet me, I eventually went to Mumbai to write it. There was a mutual respect in our relationship. He used to hear me out if I had reservations. Just like a tragedy needs comic relief, a comedy needs serious relief. It was I who insisted on adding the touch of pathos to Jaane Bhi Do… with that Hum honge kaamyab… song element to underline the naiveté of these two guys who believe that truth will eventually win. It was an emotional thread that worked.
He was shooting Kya Kehna in Ooty and would call even if he had to change a word. He had respect for what I wrote. I worked on practically all his films — Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Hum To Mohabbat Karega… I enjoyed working with him. There were scripts we could not shoot. We were working on Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro Part 2, which, unfortunately won’t be made now. - As told to Namrata Joshi
Sudhir Mishra
Kundan Shah is the guy who held my hand. I was 22 when I assisted him for Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) and wrote the script with him. I learnt most of the things about filmmaking there. We used to take the BEST bus to go looking for locations eating a vada pav in the morning and evening with some gobhi ki sabzi at times. That’s how that film got made. I was fortunate to have worked with him.
There was Kundan, Saeed Mirza, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Manjul Sinha, Ketan Mehta… Renu Saluja edited all the films. I would be the kid in that gang. I worked on the sets, wrote scripts and fetched their beers. It was like the warm embrace of the family. They would feed you, look after you, you would stay in their houses. They did more than feed me; they also got me drunk a lot of times.
It’s difficult for me to describe Kundan. He was mad, passionate, agitated, involved... He would never stop shooting. If packup was meant to be at 10 p.m. it could well happen 10 a.m. the next day. He would go on and on for a gag or laugh.
I am sure at the end he died of a broken heart. This film industry had no place for him. The kind of parallel, alternative cinema... cinema with a moral core that he belonged to faded away. Kundan would have had 50 scripts — in various stages — in his cupboard. He was constantly writing but they were not getting made.
He did a lot of work in television but Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro was to him like Mughal-E-Azam to K. Asif. Every generation likes that film. His one film compares to a lifetime of work of other filmmakers. It happens with filmmakers — one work tops it. Like Citizen Kane for Orson Welles. In my case it has been Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi. That one film remains stuck in the audience head. It becomes theirs than your own. It becomes a hard act to follow. The filmmaker is not able to go through that route again.
Jaane Bhi Do... was released badly. But I do remember it ran for 56 weeks in the morning show at Delhi’s Sheila cinema. Re-releases, DVDs, piracy made it cult with time. That film remains alive while most of the films of that time have faded away.
Kundan could capture grace in nonsense [in the film like no other. There was a simultaneous lament about the possibility of a better world. Most people only remember the Mahabharata scene of the film but there was the brilliant last shot. There was that joyous dance towards death. - As told to Namrata Joshi
Kabir Khan
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro is a truly iconic film. I don't know how many times we watched it while growing up. But more than that for me, I can't forget how warm he was as a person. I remember when I finished my film school course and working as a freelance camera person, I met him on the sets of Nukkad and I was in complete awe of him. Anyway coming from Delhi I was in awe of all film people in Bombay. I couldn't get over how warm he was. He said to me, " Kabir aao tumhe dikhata hoon yaha yeh sab kya hai ". I was a 22-year-old cameraman and he took me around and spent an hour with me. It's something I fondly remember today. - As told to Kennith Rosario
Nitesh Tiwari, filmmaker
Kundan Shah's Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi and even Nukkad had an entertaining factor that brought families together. I had a small chance to meet him. I was in an ad agency and he directed an advertisement for us. That's when I got to know him and the kind of humility that he had, it floored me. One thing that makes me wonder is that why did he take 10 years to make him next film after Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro . Now when I am a director I realise how difficult it is to make a good film. - As told to Kennith Rosario
Anurag Kashyap
Kundan Shah and Saeed Akhtar Mirza made me write a lot. Sitting in the house outside Rizvi College. I was in awe of him. He used to give me constant feedback on how to write a film and a scene. He was very simple. He used to slouch and sit in a relaxed manner and say, " Isko aise karo ". His death has come as a big surprise for me. - As told to Kennith Rosario
