In 1989 came Joshilay, an action-revenge drama featuring Sunny Deol and Anil Kapoor. The film remains underrated, but I remember it being quite an engaging fare perhaps because it was partly directed by Shekhar Kapur. Joshilay introduced me to Rajesh Vivek as the villainous Jogi Thakur, a long haired, grimy, bedraggled loony dacoit. The film bombed and was soon forgotten, but Jogi Thakur remained etched in my memory, his was a face you couldn’t forget easily.
If you’re a connoisseur of trashy Bollywood films, you could trace Rajesh Vivek back to Veerana, a staple horror potboiler from the Ramsay Brothers’ back in 1988. Vivek basically became the go-to-guy in Bollywood whenever a role called for a mat-haired, bearded, manic, eye-rolling weirdo.
Shekhar Kapur should have been really impressed with Vivek’s Jogi Thakur avatar to have repeated him in Bandit Queen as Baba Mustaquim, a local godfather who the dacoits consult for an approval of their plans.
But, most people would remember him as the eccentric astrologer Guran in Lagaan. Guran became an instant favourite for yelling “Jai Bajrang Bali, Tod De Dushman Ki Nali!” before bowling to the English team on the dusty grounds of Champaner. Vivek played to the gallery with his look of a bearded idiosyncratic baba, with only the whites of his eyes showing while he mouthed prophecies.
The actor therefore was almost unrecognisable as Nivaran, the clean-shaven, well groomed postmaster in Swades.
No doubt, as an actor he touched many a life, be it among the audience or among his colleagues in the industry. Several Bollywood stars expressed their sorrow at the 66-year-old actor’s untimely death yesterday:
RIP Rajesh Vivek.