Dr Shreeram Lagoo birth centenary: ‘He Was A True Natsamrat,' Says Padmini Kolhapure

They worked together in four films—Gehrayee, Souten, Saajan Bina Suhagan and Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai—and ahead of Dr Shreeram Lagoo’s birth centenary (November 16), Padmini Kolhapure remembers the late actor as an extremely thoughtful and dignified gentleman who was not given to frivolities, but his occasional bursts of laughter showed that despite some intense performances, he had a lighter side to him too.

“As an actor, he was always well prepared; for him the art and craft of acting was serious business. As a person, he was loving, caring and extremely patient with me,” says the actress, who was just a teenager when she played the possessed Uma in Aruna-Vikas’s 1980 horror thriller Gehrayee.

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He plays her father in the film, and Padmini believes that being a doctor himself, he was able to understand the psychology of her character and his. “The film had so many talented performers, including Indraniji (Mukherjee), Amrish Puriji and this year’s Dadasaheb Phalke recipient, Anant Nagji, and each one of them was brilliant, and still we noticed and remember Lagoo uncle’s wonderfully nuanced performance. He has a rich repertoire, but Gehrayee is still my favourite,” she asserts.

They were cast as father and daughter in Souten and Sajan Bina Suhagan as well while in Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai he plays Rishi Kapoor’s wealthy dad who stands in the path of true love. Padmini smiles as she shares that she started out calling him ‘Lagoo uncle’, but after Souten, which was shot in Singapore and Mauritius, he became Lagoo sahab. “Once you grew up, industry uncles became ‘ji’ and ‘sahab’. Only Dev (Anand) uncle I could never call Dev sahab despite his insistence. With Lagoo sahab I exploited our Maharashtrian connection to the fullest, conversing with him in Marathi,” she chuckles, pointing out that he worked in some memorable Marathi films like Pinjara, Samna, Sinhasan and Mukta to name a few. “His intensity and versatility was unparalleled and I consider myself blessed that he would watch my films and tell me proudly, ‘Tumhi khoop chan kaam karat aahat (You are doing good work).’”

Padmini reminds that not just on screen, the stalwart also ruled the stage. She regrets she missed seeing him in the classic play Natsamrat which made him a legend in Marathi theatre and set the bar high for successive generations of actors. “Putting your entire being into an intense character like this, giving live performances night after night without the luxury of retakes, is just phenomenal,” she applauds, admitting that Dr Lagoo who was musically inclined and knew her father Pandharinath Kolhapure as a classical singer, would have enjoyed seeing her as ghazal queen Begum Akhtar in the play Ammi… Akhtari. “But he would have definitely asked why I wasn’t doing Marathi plays,” she admits with a laugh.

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She met him for the last time at the Dinanath Mangeshkar Natyagruha in Vile Parle, Mumbai, when they had gone to watch a play. “I can’t remember the name of the play, but I was thrilled to bump into Lagoo sahab. In later years, as his health declined, he didn’t venture out much, but his passion remained alive and took him to the auditorium that evening. He was a true ‘Natsamrat’,” she signs off emotionally.

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