When Satish Kaushik worked at textile mills to survive in Mumbai: ‘I wasn’t getting any roles at all’

Satish Kaushik died in Delhi due to a heart attack in March. He was 66. April 13 marks Satish’s birth anniversary. The late actor, screenwriter and director had spoken about working in a textile mill, when he first arrived in Mumbai, in an old interview. A couple of years ago, Satish had also shared a photo of himself from a railway station as he recalled coming to Mumbai to become an actor in August 1979. Also read: When Satish Kaushik looked back on his arrival in Mumbai

Satish was originally from Haryana, but attended college in Delhi. He had graduated from the National School of Drama in the capital. He had later joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune. In an old interview, Satish recalled how he started his career as an assistant to filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.

“In Bombay (Mumbai), I wasn’t getting any roles at all. Those days when I started, that is in the eighties, most heroes did comedy, action, everything. We didn’t stand a chance. Also, I was new to Bombay. To survive I did a job in a textile mills. I joined Nadira Babbar’s Ekjut and acted in some plays. So I would work in the mill in the mornings and go to the theatre in the evenings. Still, the roles weren’t coming,” Satish had told Rediff in a 1999 interview.

He had further said, “Finally, I decided I should become an assistant. Because I couldn’t sit idle, you know. I have to something or the other all the time. I am very restless person. I do 10 things at the same time. Like today I am acting, directing, writing and running my own production company. So I thought that I should be working everyday. And then I joined Shekhar Kapur.”

In 2020, Satish Kaushik had shared a photo of his arrival in Mumbai on a train as he tried to make it as an actor. He had shared in a tweet that the city and its people gave him more than he had dreamt. Satish’s last film as an actor was Chhatriwali, which was released in January 2023, months before his death. The late actor had completed filming his part in Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency in which he essayed the role of politician Jagjivan Ram.