Sameer Khakhar, the man who played Kamal Haasan's affable abductee in Pushpak

Sameer Khakhar, fondly remembered for his role as Khopdi in Kundan Shah and Saeed Akhtar Mirza's iconic 1980s show Nukkad, breathed his last on Wednesday, March 15th. The actor was known for his affable presence on screen and his stint as a TV actor, in particular, found him the prominence he deserved. He was also part of other popular shows on the small screen such as Circus (one of Shah Rukh Khan's launchpads), Shrimaan Shrimati and Sanjivani.

His film credits include Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Parinda, Dev Anand's Awwal Number, Dilwale and the more recent Hasee Toh Phasee, starring Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra, a small appearance in the Salman Khan starrer Jai Ho.

However, among the many on-screen roles of Sameer Khakhar is the one in Singeetham Srinivasa Rao's cult classic Pushpak/ Pushpaka Vimana. The 1987 film, which has gone down in time as one of the most daring and enterprising cinematic experiments in India, starred only a handful of actors and many would recall that Sameer Khakhar made a sporadic yet very memorable appearance in the film. 

To refresh your memory, Khakhar plays the drunk wealthy man whom Kamal Haasan's 'Graduate' character encounters in the film. It is through this wealthy man that the Graduate gains access to the dazzling suite in the Pushpak hotel, meets the love of his life and also unwittingly evades a series of attacks from a contract killer. The Graduate, in parallel, holds Sameer Khakhar's wealthy man as an abductee in his less-than-pleasing house in Bengaluru and their unspoken repartee includes some of the best and funniest moments of the film.

Not very long ago, the world woke up to the sad news of the death of Mandeep Roy, a fellow Pushpak alumnus.

Pushpak/Pushpaka Vimana also stars Amala, Tinu Anand, K.S. Ramesh, Farida Jalal, Pratap Potan, Lokanath and P.L. Narayana. The film's music was composed by L. Vaidyanathan with B.C. Gowrishankar handling the camera.