Actor Arvind Joshi passed away on Friday morning at the age of 84 in a Mumbai hospital. He is survived by his wife and two children, the famous actor Sharman Joshi and his daughter Mansi Joshi Roy.
Actor Arvind Joshi passed away on Friday morning at the age of 84 in a Mumbai hospital. He is survived by his wife and two children, the famous actor Sharman Joshi and his daughter Mansi Joshi Roy.
Joshi is considered one of the greatest actors of Gujarati theatre from Mumbai. Like many Mumbai theatre personalities, Joshi too spent his winters in Gujarat performing across the state, especially in Ahmedabad. He left lasting impressions on theatre personalities in the city.
Actor Kiran Joshi recalled Joshi’s performance in the famous play Baanshaiya, on the theme of euthanasia in the early 1970s. “I used to only watch movies during my college days. When I watched Arvindbhai’s performance on stage, my view of theatre changed. He created magic only through movement of his neck and voice modulation. It was after this that I decided to study drama and enrolled for a diploma.”
Joshi also worked in numerous movies in Hindi as well as in Gujarati. Famous dramatist Saumya Joshi got to work with him in a Gujarati film Dikri Vahal no Dariyo in 1998. He fondly remembers the senior actor who was always among the few to welcome his drama troupe on its Mumbai visits. He recollects his first experience of “great acting” when he watched Joshi on the stage, “I saw him in Manas Hovano Mane Dankh. He was reciting Adil Mansuri’s ghazal. He used to underact. It was my first experience of great acting.”
Another actor in the city, Archan Trivedi, also reminisced about how he stumbled upon a chance to work with this stalwart during his Indian National Theatre (INT) days. “Because of my reputation in INT, I was given a role by Suresh Rajda in his play Tohmat after an actor, Suresh Gor, had to quit in an emergency. I had to play a judge in the courtroom drama. In the very first show, I committed a blunder and Arvind Joshi came to me fuming. It took the director to pacify him saying I was an urgent replacement. Later, Arvindbhai was a great help and encouragement to me throughout the trip,” he said.
Famous film and theatre artist Paresh Rawal took to Twitter to pay homage to Joshi. He wrote, “Irreparable loss to Indian Theatre; with grief we say goodbye to the noted actor Shri Arvind Joshi. A stalwart, a versatile actor, an accomplished thespian, are the words that come to mind when I think of his performances. My condolences to @TheShermanJoshi & family. AUM SHANTI”
