Bhalla misses his ‘Smart Boy’ Robert
What Amar was to Prem, Robert was to Bhalla in the cult film Andaz Apna Apna (1994).Theirs was a perfect match. And actor Shehzad Khan, who brought his iconic father Ajit’s style alive as Vinod Bhalla in the movie, says as Robert, his onscreen accomplice Viju Khote — who died on Monday — was pure joy to work with and learn from. But he feels the industry didn’t value their camaraderie enough. In fact, memories of Viju and of working with the film’s cast and crew warm up the heart of Shehzad, whose Whatsapp status poignantly reads ‘Smart Boy’.
Mourning the “sudden, sad demise” of Viju, the Kalia of Sholay (1975), Shehzad says, “He was a fun-loving person and enjoyed every minute that he lived. He was an institution in himself, and taught me a lot. As an actor, he taught me what comedy, timing and improvisation was... I didn’t know these things then because it was the first time I was doing poker face comedy. I had all big actors around me ... Paresh Rawal, Shakti Kapoor and Viju himself. He taught me what was give-and-take in comedy.”
Viju was a lucky mascot for Shehzad. “We gelled very well... Our jodi was like that of Shakti Kapoor and Kader Khan. But the industry did not realise its worth, other than Rajkumar Santoshi,” he says.
Now fond memories are all that Shehzad, 52, holds onto.
“If you would recall the suits from the bomb blast scene, Viju and I had decided to ask the producer to let us keep them after the shoot because they looked so good on us. But as you saw in the film, they were torn apart from behind on the same day,” he recounts with a laugh, and adds that had a behind-thescenes video of the film been released back then, it would have been as big a cult as the film itself.