The Vikram Gokhale You Never Knew

IMAGE: Vikram Gokhale in Agneepath.

Vikram Gokhale, one of India’s finest actors, passed into the ages on November 26 at the age of 77.

He spent most of his life working in theatre, Hindi films and Marathi films, giving us these gems to remember him by.

Gokhale worked right till the end, never slowing down and certainly, never stopping.

The film fraternity got together to return their love for him with a special prayer service, where they showed the world just what his contribution to cinema was and what he meant to them.

One of Shabana Azmi’s biggest regrets has been that she never worked with Vikram Gokhale in her career.

They would meet often, and she would always ask him, “Vikram, when will we work together?”

He was always answer, “Whenever you say.”

But it never happened.

“He had a lot of gravitas. But there was a gentleness that was inherent to him. For an artist, if you have these two facilities, that you can be serious, so much gravitas, and also have the wonder of a child, which is what I saw in the many portrayals of Vikramji,” Shabana says.

Watch the video to know just how close she was to Gokhale.

As the president of CINTAA (Cine & TV Artistes Association), Vikram Gokhale had been very helpful.

But as Johnny Lever says, even before he became that, even before he was even a member of the organisation, he was very helpful and always came forward to help anyone in need.

“Unko pyaar tha, hamare association se, hamare logon se. Aisa sochna bahut badi baat hai, kitne log sochte?” Lever asks.

Vikram’s co-star in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam Smita Jaykar got quite emotional as she spoke about their friendship off set too.

“In 2009, when my son was contesting elections from his South Mumbai constituency, Vikramji told me, ‘Smita, I’m going to come for you as a moral support. I was shocked when he said that,” Smita says, and tells us why in this video.

Just who was Vikram Gokhale?

Did you know his great grandmother Durgabai Kamat was the first actress in India?

His grandmother Kamlabai Kamat started her career as a child actor, both women acting at a time when female actors were not allowed to work in films by their families.

His father Chandrakant Gokhale was a theatre actor.

It’s almost as Vikram Gokhale was destined to become an actor of repute.

But did you know he took up a corporate job too?

A look at the actor’s legacy: