Satish Shah’s Most Iconic Roles

For more than four decades, Satish Shah was Indian television’s most reliable presence. You’ve seen him everywhere, lighting up the screen next to Shah Rukh Khan or Ratna Pathak with his elastic and strangely modern humour. He played the kind of men most middle-class Indians grew up around — nosy uncles, sarcastic fathers, the self-appointed philosophers of dining tables — and he played them with affection.

You laughed because you recognised yourself in his characters. From the 1980s’ Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, where he shapeshifted into 60 different personas, to Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, where his sardonic Indravadan became the collective Indian father figure we didn’t know we needed, Shah’s genius lay in how he could turn the everyday into warmth and laughter.

When news of his death broke on October 25, the tributes have since poured in echoes from a generation that learned how to laugh with him. Shah belonged to a time before irony became India’s favourite language, when sitcoms were taped in living rooms and humour still carried warmth. He bridged generations without changing his rhythm. And in doing so, he left behind something few actors ever manage: a sense of familiarity.

Satish Shah’s Most Memorable Roles

Indravadan Sarabhai – Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (2004–06)

If India ever had its own version of the witty suburban dad from Modern Family, it was Indravadan Sarabhai. Mischievous, sarcastic, and irresistibly endearing, Shah turned the patriarch of a wealthy Gujarati family into an everyman hero. His verbal jousts with Ratna Pathak Shah’s Maya Sarabhai are folklore — lines quoted at dinner tables, memes still circulating decades later.

Commissioner D’Mello – Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983)

In a film packed with satire, chaos, and cult status, Shah’s turn as the corrupt Commissioner D’Mello was pure comic brilliance. Playing dead (literally) for much of the movie, he somehow became its most unforgettable presence — a corpse whose absurd afterlife became the soul of the film’s tragicomic commentary on corruption. Even today, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro stands as one of India’s most inventive comedies, and Shah’s lifeless face is one of its most alive memories.

The Many Faces – Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984)

Before Netflix anthologies and character-actor cults, there was Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, and there was Satish Shah. Playing nearly 60 different characters — from a postman to a politician — he displayed a range that felt almost theatrical in its precision. The show became a national phenomenon, and Shah, its gravitational centre.

Professor Rasai – Main Hoon Na (2004)

In Main Hoon Na, Shah’s bumbling, spitting, Professor Rasai — who couldn’t pronounce his Rs — was the comic relief we needed. Amid Shah Rukh Khan’s slow-motion heroics, Rasai grounded the film with unfiltered silliness, and we loved him for it. 

Kursann Bhai Patel  – Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)

In Kal Ho Naa Ho, he appeared in short bursts, yet left a lasting impression. It was Shah in a nutshell: the perfect NRI Gujju dad embarrassing his son in public. Even in a Shah Rukh–Saif–Preity star vehicle, he found his own rhythm, reminding audiences that laughter could coexist with heartbreak.