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Satish Shah passed away at the age of 74 in Mumbai, leaving behind some of the most enduring memories for his fans through his iconic roles. The one role that made him a household name was the witty and sarcastic Indravadan Sarabhai from the hit sitcom Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. The show became a cult classic over time, with audiences often calling it ahead of its time. However, when it first aired, it surprisingly suffered from low TRPs and was among Satish’s lowest-performing shows.
‘Sarabhai was the first failure of my career on TV’
In an old interaction, Satish had called it the “first failure” of his television career. He told DNA, “Let me tell you something, we did the serial as a weekly. However, at that time it was not publicised much. By the time people got to know that it’s a good serial and started watching it, it was taken off air due to lack of TRPs! It was the first failure of my career on TV. I felt bad. Later, the show was re-run as a daily. That’s when people got hooked on it.”
He added, “The irony is Sarabhai was a big flop when it was released the first time, otherwise it would have been still running. And that was one show for which I had compromised on my remuneration, too.”
Old connection with Ratna Pathak Shah
Ratna Pathak Shah and Satish Shah’s chemistry as Maya and Indravadan Sarabhai was one of the show’s biggest highlights, and it stemmed from an old personal connection between the two. Speaking about it, Satish said, “Ratnaji’s mother and my father’s younger sister were best friends. Her mother got married in my aunt’s house. At that time we were not into acting, but we knew each other. When we met professionally, we just hit it off and have a great comfort level. Her husband (Naseeruddin Shah) is my best friend and my wife is her best friend. Hum dono screen par aate the toh really husband-wife ki tarah the. That is chemistry.”
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Women didn’t want a husband like Satish’s Indravadan
Satish also once shared with Rajshri that Sarabhai vs Sarabhai was designed to appeal to the elite sections of society. “The reason behind making the serial was that the channel Star One, they wanted to cater to the higher set of society. So the idea was to start an elite channel that would be enjoyed by the upper crust of society.”
While Satish closely related to his character, he recalled how many women openly disliked Indravadan. “I have met girls who told me, ‘I would love to have a father-in-law like you.’ I have met guys who said, ‘I would love to have a father like you.’ I have met women who said, ‘I would hate to have a husband like you.’”
Satish had a condition to only work till 6pm for the show
In an interview with After Hours With AAE, director Deven Bhojani, who also played a role in the show, revealed that Satish had agreed to do Sarabhai vs Sarabhaia on one condition — he would only work till 6 pm. However, that quickly changed once he started enjoying himself on set. Bhojani recalled, “He is very mischievous in real life too. When he accepted the show, he didn’t want to do much work, but since he liked the show, he agreed to do it, but on a condition to only work till 6 pm. We made his schedule according to that. Initially for 2-3 days he worked till six, but after that, he started having so much fun that even if we did his pack up, he would stay till 9 pm on the set, just having fun with other cast members.”
