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Indian Express

Golden Age Bollywood's iconic comedian slept among rats, became an alcoholic and was duped out of his fortune

Iftekar played cops, DK Sapru played judges, and Keshto Mukherjee played drunks. Over the course of his career, which ended prematurely after his death at the age of 56, he worked with the likes of Amitabh Bachchan in the record-breaking Zanjeer, with Hrishikesh Mukherjee in Chupke Chupke and Gol Maal. Keshto was born in the year 1925, and before he made a name for himself in Bollywood, he experienced abject poverty. He was also duped in life, leading to the loss of all but one of his properties. In an interview conducted a year before his passing, the actor admitted that he had been relying on alcohol for the entirety of his career, having developed a dependency on it in his youth, when he was sleeping among rats and wearing tattered clothes because he had no money. Reflecting on his on-screen image of a dipsomaniac, Keshto Mukherjee said, 'People want me to play a bevda. I give them what they want. After all, they are the ones who've made me. At times I still do feel a bit insecure, but then I tell myself that I have nothing to fear as long as I give to the public what they want from me. I know that I don't have class. Nor do I take pride in being a terrific actor I know that I can never reach great heights. But I don't want class. I want money. For being classy won't help me feed my children, but if I have money, I have everything.' Also read – Bollywood director lost entire life's savings after one flop; daughter was forced to dance, son performed for money at beach to repay debts Asked if he's actually a teetotaler in real life, he said, 'No. I drink a lot. I started boozing when I left my home town and came to Bombay to become a film hero. I lived in a dingy room in the railway quarters with nothing to eat, but lots to drink. I drank because I was frustrated. I didn't have any work. I drank to get some sleep, to forget that there were rats running all around the place, that there was a dog sleeping next to me. I drank to relieve the tension. And I only had daaru as my true friend. And again, it was because of this daaru that I gained popularity. Today, if anyone says my name, everyone pictures a bevda. I cannot ditch my friend now. I still drink. The only day when I didn't touch a drop of liquor was on my wedding day.' Keshto said that money is of extreme importance to him, because he understands its worth. 'This house (pointing to his living room) is made by me. I have earned every paisa with the sweat of my brow. I don't ever want to lose it. I know what it is to be poor. I don't ever want to go back to being in rags with an empty stomach,' he said. Also read – Born out of wedlock, abandoned by father, serially abused in Bollywood, she became industry's biggest female superstar In an interview with Vividh Bharti Service earlier this year, his surviving son Babloo, who is also an actor, spoke about not having too many memories of his father Keshto Mukherjee. 'We didn't really see him much growing up, and heard him speak even less. But he was a very serious man, not at all a jokester. Sometimes, he'd take me and my brother to a shoot, and I would see an entirely different side to him. He was a different man. But at home, he was very strict, especially about studies. He wouldn't put pressure on us; he just wanted us to get passing grades. We were deliberately kept away from the film industry. We wouldn't get film magazines at home. He stopped taking us to shootings and premieres after I turned 11,' Babloo said. Read more – Patriarch of iconic Bollywood family abandoned his son, forced second family to live in secrecy for decades, went blind in his final days Babloo also appeared on Mukesh Khanna's YouTube channel for an interview, where he recalled an anecdote about his dad's popularity. 'He would go on live events in India and abroad. When he'd go to Dubai, all the sheikhs would take off their gold chains and put them around my father's neck. His entire neck would be garlanded with gold chains. He would take them off, put them on the table, and say, 'Whoever these belong to, come and take them. I won't accept a single one of them. I will go back to India just with the one briefcase I came with.' He wouldn't accept a single freebie.' Read more – Legendary Bollywood music composer lived as paying guest in final years, banned family from attending funeral Babloo said that he is disappointed in seeing YouTube videos that suggest his father died penniless. While he admitted that the family suffered loss of many kinds, he denied that his father was ever poor. 'I worked for 17 years non-stop. I didn't go home. I was always working. Let me tell you, some people think that my father died in poverty, but this isn't true. It wasn't like he was a millionaire, but he had a flat in Juhu and some properties. But we lost them all, except the flat. Log kha gaye sab. But let me make one thing clear, he didn't die poor. Yes, therhave been many actors who met tragic ends, but Keshto da wasn't one of them,' he said.