Ravi Baswani (29 September 1946 – 27 July 2010) was an Indian film actor, best known for his role in

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's '' Chashme Buddoor'' (1981) and Kundan Shah's cult comedy '' Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro'' (1983), for which he won Filmfare Best Comedian Award in 1984. He was noted for his comic timing and underplaying a character in the true sense of the word. In a career spanning 30 years he acted in some 30 films. He died in

Haldwani Haldwani ( Kumaoni: ''Haldvānī'') is the largest city of Kumaon. It is also the third most populous city and largest commercial market in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Haldwani is said to be the financial capital of Uttarakhand, having the m ...

, on his way to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

from

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters ...

, to where he had travelled to scout for locations for his upcoming debut directorial feature film.

Early life and education

Ravi Baswani was born and brought up in a Jat family in Delhi. He did his schooling from St. George's College, Mussoorie and his graduation from

Kirori Mal College Kirori Mal College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi. Established in 1954, it is located in the North Campus of the university in New Delhi, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the sciences, humanities ...

(KMC),

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

, where he was part of the KMC dramatic society.

Career

Baswani started his career in 1981 with '' Chashme Buddoor'' and did many successful films as a comedian and/or as a character artist. He also appeared many times on Indian television. He went on to work in films like the cult '' Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro'', '' Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa'', '' Chhota Chetan'', ''Ab Aayega Maza'' and Naseeruddin Shah's first directorial venture, ''

Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota ''Yun Hota To Kya Hota'' ( hi, यूँ होता तो क्या होता, Urdu: , en, What If?) is a 2006 Hindi drama film. The film directed by Naseeruddin Shah stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayesha Takia, Jimmy She ...

''. As a television actor, he acted in numerous TV serials, including, the popular comedy serial, ''

Idhar Udhar ''Idhar Udhar'' is a Hindi sitcom which first aired on Doordarshan in 1985. It was directed by Anand Mahendroo and produced by Shobha Doctor. It starred real-life sisters Ratna Pathak and Supriya Pathak. Its first season was taken off the ai ...

'' on

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...

in the 1980s, wherein he acted alongside Pathak sisters,

Supriya Pathak Supriya Pathak (born 7 January 1961) is an Indian actress who works in Gujarati and Hindi films and television. She has received multiple awards including three Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actress. She is mostly popular for playing th ...

and

Ratna Pathak Ratna Pathak Shah (born 18 March 1957) is an Indian actress and director known for her work in Hindi theatre, television, and films. Her extensive work in theatre includes a series of plays in both English and Hindi. She rose to prominence when ...

. He was then seen in character roles in films like ''

Bunty Aur Babli ''Bunty Aur Babli'' () is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film directed by Shaad Ali and written by Jaideep Sahni, based on a story by Aditya Chopra, who serves as producer under the Yash Raj Films banner. The film stars Abhishek ...

'' and ''Pyar Tune Kya Kiya''. In 2004, when Film and Television Institute of India,

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

revived its acting course after 26 years, he became its coordinator and a teacher, along with Naseeruddin Shah, who also redesigned the course. Baswani however resigned the following year.

Death

Baswani died following a massive heart attack on 27 July 2010 in Haldwani (Distt. Nainital). He was returning from Nainital to Delhi, where he had to hunt for locations for his directorial debut film, set in the hills. He never married.

Filmography

Television

*''

'' (1985) as Kumar Bhairav *''Ek Se Badkar Ek'' (1996) as Rahul *''Football Ki Wapsi'' *'' Just Mohabbat'' (1997) as J.D.

References

External links

*
Ravi Baswani's last interview
''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Baswani, Ravi Indian male comedians Male actors from New Delhi Filmfare Awards winners 1946 births 2010 deaths Male actors in Hindi cinema Indian male television actors Kirori Mal College alumni People from Delhi 20th-century Indian male actors