Actor Saeed Jaffrey dies at 86

Film-makers remember him as warm, respectful and always well-prepared.

For those growing up on Hindi films of the eighties, perhaps the most endearing of Saeed Jaffrey’s many on-screen avatars was that of Lallan Miyan in Sai Paranjape’s 1981 Delhi comedy Chashme Buddoor. He played the Jor Bagh paanwala, to whom the film’s three protagonists were perennially in debt, and who was constantly chasing them for his dues even as he filled in as a confidant for them. It was a small role but continued to be remembered decades later.

What stood out about Jaffrey’s performance in the film pretty much defined him as an actor: an effortless approach to acting than indulging in heavy duty, laboured theatrics; he even brought an easy-going feel to his interactions with the co-actors. It was a geniality and affection that reached out to them.

“He was always protective. I felt a warmth, a kind of an affiliation,” remembers actor Deepti Naval who worked with him first in Vinod Pande’s Ek Baar Phir (1979) and then in Chashme Buddoor and Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Kisi Se Na Kehna (1983).

Jaffrey’s death was announced by his niece Shaheen Agarwal on Facebook on Sunday. He passed away in a hospital in London early on Saturday. A statement from Jaffrey Associates said the actor had collapsed at his London residence from a brain haemorrhage and never regained consciousness.

“Colourful, full of life, lovely to work with, very warm, respectful and well-prepared” is how film-maker Sandip Ray remembers him. It was on the sets of his father’s (Satyajit Ray) Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) that Sandip first met Jaffrey. “It was such an exciting period watching him perform or just seeing him on the sets. Off the camera, he would share anecdotes or do mimicry. But he would be absolutely serious and focused while giving his shots,” recollects Sandip.

The other hallmarks of Jaffrey, the actor, were language and diction. The usage, pronunciation and enunciation of Hindustani were always impeccable, rooted and lucid. His English was just as clipped and pitch perfect. His Aligarh and Allahabad education and the grounding in theatre (in Shakespeare, Tennesse Williams and Oscar Wilde) and in British television had much to contribute to that.

Born in 1929 in Malerkotla, Punjab, Jaffrey studied at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and The Catholic University of America and won the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to theatre.

“He came with the training and discipline of British theatre and was really professional. There was never a time when he came to the sets unprepared. He also hardly needed any rehearsals,” says film-maker Shyam Benegal who directed him in Mandi (1983). He was a truly global draw at a time when “crossover appeal” hadn’t quite become a buzzword. The India-born British actor had his feet planted firmly in both the East and the West. “Very few actors from India have been able to make a successful career in both American and British theatre. It was a difficult thing to do, considering the time when he did it,” says Benegal.

There was an eclectic mix in his work: classics like Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982) where he played Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and before that Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) where he played the chess-obsessed nobleman Mir Roshan Ali, who cared neither for his family nor the kingdom in the face of a good game with his friend Mirza Sajjad Ali (Sanjeev Kumar). Sandip recollects that Jaffrey was the first actor to be cast in the film, even before Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan.

“He [Jaffrey] knew that culture and milieu (Awadh) very well, had read a lot of books on the subject. He gave many interesting inputs and Baba always used to take his suggestions,” says Sandip.

Then there was Stephen Frears’ definitive portrayal of race relations in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) set in the Thatcher-era. There were many a “Raj” film and TV series: John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King (1975), David Lean’s adaptation of E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India (1984), HBO mini series Far Pavilions (1984) and the British TV show Jewel In The Crown (1984) based on Paul Scott’sRaj Quartet novels.

There were innumerable Bollywood masala movies too where he was largely stuck playing the patriarch but he always brought a genteel and delicate touch to the formulae and conventions. He was one of the so-called “character actors” who bolstered the backdrop of a film.

Jaffrey’s was a persona viewers could warm up to and get utterly charmed by. Shekhar Kapoor’sMasoom (1983) was one such memorable outing. He was delightful as Suri, the friend and extended family of DK (Naseeruddin Shah) and the two brought the house down in the song ‘Huzoor is kadar bhi na itra ke chaliye’.

Jaffrey was just as loveable as the father figure ‘Lalaji’ in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Kisi Se Na Kehna(1983): the entire film was spun on the one trick he coaxes the hero to play. Jaffrey worked in Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) and then in Randhir Kapoor’s Henna (1991). Ramesh Sippy’sSaagar (1985) was a unique film that had him sharing a few scenes with his former wife, Madhur Jaffrey.

Benegal remembers a lesser known side to him — that he was very superstitious when it came to acting. “If he didn’t get it right on the first take, he would deliberately mess up the second and third takes as well,” says Benegal. For Jaffrey, it either had to be the first take or the fourth or fifth one.