- Ravi Baswani - Tribute to a Real Star

By Alok Ulfat
Dehradun, 27 July: Ravi Baswani was jolly good fellow with an amazing sense of humor. At times, it washed some people off the mark. He saw beyond the glitter and even under the carpet. A simple, intelligent man, who loved life and his own style. He was a mentor for many young artists and now many will be deprived of his blessings. To sum up his ideas for actors - ‘Be real, be engaged and seek that which is ORIGINAL.’ He was a great actor and I wish he could have done more.
Directors it is more your loss!
It was in the year 1994 when I met Ravi Bhai on the sets of Siddharth Basu’s ‘Manch Masala’ in Delhi. He came across as a warm-hearted person with a down to earth approach to life. He was one of the precious pearls of Indian cinema, who had earned the Filmfare Award without the cliché of popular looks and acting. He was the master of subtleties. Like Naseeruddin Shah and Tom Alter, he too had the chance to work in Dehradun, my home town and had conducted a wonderful theatre workshop at the Rajpur Festival.
After meeting with him in Delhi, we became good friends and he invited me to come to Mumbai.
I took up the offer and arrived in the mega city with the hope of working with friends of Ravi Baswani.
At that time, Kundan Shah and Mayank Trivedi were making a serial called “Mahanager”. Ravi Bhai introduced me to the company. They auditioned me and I learnt that I was to play the lead in the serial. I was happy and Ravi Bhai spent hours training me and telling me tales of cinema. Practically every day on visiting his house I met so many actors and directors. I learnt that I knew very little and so an exciting journey began. Thank you, Ravi Bhai.
Over a decade and a half, our friendship grew and we became close friends. But inside my heart, I used to consider him a Guru and a Guardian. Ravi Bhai could see through the masks of the people and seldom would he make the mistake of misjudging individuals.
It was Ravi Bhai who asked me to design the selection process for the Acting Course of the Film and Television Institute of India. So I gave it all that I knew and even went with my team to conduct exams. After hours of discussions and serious contemplation, a solid process was prepared. Every night, Ravi Bhai, Ravi Shastry ( his cousin brother) and I would sit and work on the plans. Later Ravi Bhai, Naseeruddin Shah and Tripurari Saran gave me the responsibility of developing the selection process for the Acting Course of FTII, Pune.
There were endless days I spent with him in his Seven Bungalows flat and long were the nights of his observation and discussions on Cinema. Ravi Bhai saw life and in his presence, you also learnt to see the invisible. I will never forget that night when we sat in his sitting room listening to Gulzar’s song. He was someone who loved the craft of language. He truly was an honest actor and a challenging friend.