Mushtaq Khan
Mumbai: Senior film, TV and stage actor Mushtaq Khan died of cancer at age 76 in Mumbai Thursday. Khan’s comic timing in ‘Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke’, ‘Jodi No 1’, and ‘Welcome’, where he played a disabled hockey player, brought the house down. He told this reporter in 2019, “I was fond of acting from childhood.
I did a play called ‘Dronacharya’ by Shankar Shesh which received wide acclaim,” he had said. The tall, strapping comedian brought a spark to the big and small screen, shuffling sideways as he walked, pulling up his trousers and rolling his eyes as he muttered funny one-liners. Khan started his film career with ‘Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai’ in the mid-70s, then drew attention in Mahesh Bhatt films like ‘Aashiqui’, ‘Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin’ and ‘Sadak’. The serials ‘Wagle Ki Duniya’, ‘Chamatkar’, ‘Tedhe Medhe Sapne’ were other highlights. Khan remained circuit active on the OTT circuit as well. I was in class six when I began to perform and sing in school plays. I did some mono acting as well. I cultivated a desire to become a film actor in college where I wrote, acted and directed my own plays.* Mushtaq Khan had a friend named Suresh Zargar who guided him to the Bharatiya Jan Natya Manch (later IPTA) to channelise his talent. “I began to get good work.