Padmini Kolhapure speaks up about the demise of late Saawan Kumar Tak

On 25th August we lost Filmmaker and Lyricist Saawan. Recently his close associate and protégée, Padmini Kolhapure sat down for a conversation with a news portal and shared her grief, fond memories and more.

Padmini shared, "Saawan ji passed away on August 25, which also happens to be Rajiv Kapoor’s birth anniversary. Rajiv was my co-star in Preeti, which was directed by Saawan ji. Can you believe it? This fact struck me on the day that Saawan ji passed away."

Padmini’s work Relationship with the late Saawan Kumar

She recalled her working relationship with Saawan Kumar Tak and shared, "I worked with him as a kid when I was 7-8 years old in a film titled Saajan Bina Suhagan. We hit it off brilliantly because the environment was such. There was Shreeram Lagoo ji and Nutan ji on set, too. I used to call him Saawan uncle in those days. And when I did Souten, Saawan ji said, 'You dare call me Saawan uncle'. It actually took a while before I could call him Saawan ji."

Padmini’s thoughts on his work

Padmini pointed out how Saawan’s work often revolved around feminism. She explained, "If you look at his films, at least the ones that I did, like Souten and Saajan Bina Suhagan, they were women-oriented films. There was something that attracted him to women, their lives and their characters. Women’s subjects fascinated him and he wanted to tell them through the women’s psyche."

Padmini elaborated, "If you take Souten, it has a very negative title. But Saawan ji created a very positive souten character. That film did so well. It had fabulous songs. Even today, the song Zindagi Pyaar Ka Geet Hai has such massive views on YouTube. All the songs of Souten were written by him. He was a great lyricist. He had a great flair for music. Most of his films’ music was given by his then-wife Usha Khanna. As working partners, they were very good. They just hit it off brilliantly." She also revealed that another hallmark of Tak was his ability to talk good about his peers. Padmini said, "He had no negativity towards anybody that he worked with. He may have had bad experiences in the past. I have spent so much time with him and spoken to him. We have done so many outdoors (location shoots). He was such a jovial guy. He was passionate about directing films."