Kader Khan was a man sent by God: Shakti Kapoor

Actor pens heartfelt letter in memory of former co-star

While all of us still reeling from the news of Kader Khan’s death, some are taking it a lot harder. One such person is Khan’s dear friend and fellow actor Shakti Kapoor, who is currently vacationing in Goa but managed to pen a heartfelt letter to the late actor, who passed away on Jan 1 after a prolonged illness, reported Hindustan Times.

“It’s not a very good first day of the year,” Kapoor begins. “I’ve spent half my acting career with Kader Khan – we did over 100 films together. Now that he is gone, the film industry has been thinking about him. Why do people remember an actor when they are not alive? Why can’t they say something nice while the person is working or when they are sick or when they are struggling? People only start talking about an actor when they are no more around to hear it all.”

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The actor adds he is upset because he has lost many actor friends who were lauded when they died but no one remembered them when they were alive. “They were not spoken about, their achievements were not mentioned,” he insists. “When Kader Khan was not working for the last decade and suffering, nobody was very concerned. Why was he left so lonely? He was financially secure but very lonely because when he was sick, not many people spent time with him. He was left alone with his family.”

Kapoor continues, “Did Kader Khan know how much he was loved? Did he know his achievements? I can write a book about this man because I was so close to him. I used to call him a messiah; I used to call him a man sent by God.”

According to Kapoor, Khan would often ask why there isn’t any goodness left in the world. “Why are children not respectful? Why are there so many lies and politics? Why are people so happy when others’ films flop? Why are people so jealous? These things disturbed him a lot,” he writes.

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He then goes on to recall his last meeting with Khan. “It was during a show. Kader Khan called me and said, ‘Shakti, you’re my boy. Look at the film industry today…a lot of the actors are looking after their bodies and faces but none of them focus of zubaan. They don’t have language and diction,’ he shares. “Why aren’t actors concentrating on diction like Amitabh Bachchan does?”

“After that, whenever we spoke Kader Khan would say, ‘I’ll come back to Bollywood for only one reason: to teach the new generation what dialogue delivery us and how every word coming out of your mouth should be like a rose. Today, when actors speak, you can’t understand half of it...”

The Andaaz Apna Apna star also gave further insight into the physical and mental health Khan was in the days leading up to his death. “He got a little sad after his knee operation and had to sit on a wheelchair for the first time. After that, he never left the wheelchair. I don’t know what went wrong but he used feel that he will fall if he got up,” says Kapoor. “I always believed he was going to stage a comeback because he was such a strong man. I thought he could easily fight it out. But it didn’t happen.”

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Towards the end, Kapoor admitted that he will miss Khan a lot. “We’ve done leading roles together and we have done comedy. I learnt a lot from him and I will miss him a lot. He once told me that his acting career began as a theatre artist. He was a professor in a college and would come up with dialogues while riding the scooter. His assistant, who would be riding pillion, would write them down,” he adds. “Kader Khan was my guru; I used to touch his feet. We were the best of friends. I would never leave him alone for a moment when we were together because there was so much to learn.”



“He only spoke of knowledge, of truth, of life and how to face sorrow. He wanted peace, happiness, family and people to be good. I want the world to remember him as a good man, an educated man, a man who believed in hard work.”

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