MUMBAI: Does life imitate art or does art imitate life?
On November 26, when actor Vikram Gokhale breathed his last, social media was flooded with clips of his death scene from the iconic ‘Natsamrat’. The scene has Gokhale playing the role of a stage actor Rambhau who on his deathbed delivers powerful dialogues dealing with existential issues from one of his plays, before taking the final bow. Nana Patekar, on whom the eponymous film is based, is there with him, joining in with his dialogues and holding his hand as he makes the transition to another world.
This scene will henceforth continue to play in the minds of his countless fans whenever they think of the actor’s untimely demise at the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, in Pune, on Saturday at the age of 77 and the subsequent huge loss to the world of acting.
It was a piece of art that on Saturday became as real as life. Or death.
Both Rambhau and Gokhale were wedded to their art and steeped in their craft. The only difference was that while Rambhau went as a broken soul, Gokhale hopefully departed as a most fulfilled one, having been universally acknowledged as one of the finest actors produced in the country, straddling both stage and cinema with inimitable versatility, grace and dignity. “One of the finest actors in the world — one of the top ten actors in the world,” corrected Nana Patekar, not just his co-star of ‘Natsamrat’, amongst others, but also his real-life friend, support and guide.
“He was my elder brother — that was our association of the last 51 years. We were seven brothers, six passed away. I was alone. But then there was Vikram Gokhale. Today I feel like an orphan,” said the visibly inconsolable actor, who had spoken to him a month ago and made plans for Gokhale to come and stay with him at his farmhouse in Pune after he returned from his shooting in Goa.
“We spoke almost every day for decades. I am nothing in front of him as an actor — if he is 100 per cent I am a mere 30 per cent of his talent. Not to talk of his amazing good looks, unbridled generosity and just the kind of human being he was. They don’t make any more like him,” added Patekar, who considers himself fortunate to have shared screen and stage space not just with him but also his father Chandarkant Gokhale with whom he acted in the play ‘Purush’ for 16 years.
While it is often said of many artistes that acting ran in their blood, few could lay claim to the adage as credibly as Vikram Gokhale. Because few could boast of the kind of pedigree he had been gifted with when it came to the world of acting. Not only was he the son of veteran Marathi actor Chandrakant Gokhale, his grandmother Kamlabai Gokhale was the first female child actor of Indian cinema while his great grandmother Durgabai Kamat was the first female Marathi actor to have acted in Hindi cinema — both earning these distinctions in Dadasaheb Phalke’s ‘Mohini Bhasmasur’ in 1913.
The ancestry may have been impressive, but Vikram Gokhale took this lineage to another level by the sheer dint of his unquestionable talent and powerful acting. His intensity and ability to get deep into the characters he played, won him the National Film Award for Best Actor in 2012 for the Marathi film ‘Anumati’. It also won him a fan and student for life in the form of Gajendra Ahire, the movie’s director. “Vikram ji worked on my first project and from then on also in the next 10-12 projects and was to also be a part of the one I was planning last month. I remember asking him early on, why Marathi films never get the national awards to which he replied that for that one needed the correct script and story. Four years later I chanced upon the script of ‘Anumati’ and walked into his house with it. He asked, ‘What have you brought?’ I said, ‘The material for the National award’. But the great man that he was, he immediately chided me saying, ‘Why talk so big, even before work has begun?’ Then he read the script and said and ‘I don’t know if this will get the National award but I will give this role my all’,” said Ahire.
Which he always did — from ‘Aghaat’ to ‘Agneepath’, ‘Hum dil de chuke sanam’ to ‘Mision Mangal’ to the near 100 performances spanning stage and Marathi and Hindi cinema. “He would get so involved in his shot that once he went down on his knees and leapt up as per the requirement of the scene forgetting he had just had a knee operation. Acting came before everything, including his own health,” added Ahire.
Equally important to him were his name and credibility. After an unsavoury incident some years ago when as brand ambassador of a gated farmhouse project he was embroiled in legal problems because of the developer’s problems with the buyers, Gokhale’s health seemed to take a setback. “He broke off all ties with the developer and would call up the buyers to tell them that. He could not bear this slight smudge on his otherwise spotless image and people respected him for that,” said Devika Nadig one of the residents at the project. Incidentally, the actor had a very active philanthropic side too where he contributed to the education of underprivileged and orphan children.
“He was a legend. His school of underacting gave a different nuance to Marathi theatre. He was a theatre actor first. Our political views were different but whenever we met there was warmth and respect,” said Amol Palekar, who directed him in ‘Thoda sa roomani ho jaayen’.
As an era in cinema passes away with one of its most versatile and respected artistes, one can’t help but agree with Patekar- they just don’t make many like him anymore.