Anupam Kher on starting The Satish Kaushik scholarship: It’s a tribute to our friendship

Anupam Kher shares the origin of the idea of a scholarship under the name of his best friend Satish Kaushik and the legacy he wants them both to leave behind

Anupam Kher recently was honoured with the Raj Kapoor Award by the Maharashtra Government, along with which he received a prize of ₹10 lakh. The actor announced on Thursday that he would be giving that money as a scholarship to a candidate at his acting school, who is in need of financial aid. To make it special, he has named it after his best friend, the late actor-filmmaker Satish Kaushik.

Anupam Kher and Satish Kaushik

Ask him about this move, and Anupam Kher shares, “Both of us almost came from the same backgrounds economically when we started and I thought it would be nice to continue his legacy as an actor and his association with the school, by naming the scholarship on him.” He adds, “I got a scholarship when I was in drama school, so I know its importance and it will help the outsiders who come to this industry. If I was not given a scholarship, I would not have been able to attend any acting school that I went to. For any person to get a kind of scholarship like this today, will give their career a boost.” He further states that the scholarship is not just a one time thing but will continue from now on in honour of Kaushik.

Along with the scholarship, Kher will also be installing a statue of Kaushik at his acting school, and talking about him, he gets emotional. “This statue that we have made is in my office for the last two to three months and I had kept this facing my Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. I remember him coming to my office and on seeing my awards, playfully saying, ‘I am jealous of you’. I had been thinking about it for a long time and it just sort of coincided with a lot of things. So, now it's a tribute to that brilliant actor, director and to our friendship,” he says.

Remembering his friend, the 70-year-old shares, “It's unfortunate that the most permanent thing about life is death. So, even though we know about it, we can never be fully prepared. But this way, it will be his legacy which will live for the rest of our lives. And even when I'm not there, it will continue for him to sort of be alive like this. It also inspires people about friendship too. Friendship is the healthiest and the best thing that can happen to a person. It can inspire people, and when you do something like this, it does make a difference.”