Shekhar Suman pays tribute to Atal Bihari Vajpayee

I always considered Vajpayeeji not as a politician but a statesman, someone who guided the nation. I also related to him as a poet. For me, he was an artist who was trying to paint his beautiful vision on the canvas of India. He did not indulge in Machiavellian tactics to be on the throne. He had a poetic approach; he was a maha kavi, a granth.

My relation with Vajpayeeji was unique. He had phoned me twice to say that he enjoyed watching Movers & Shakers. His foster daughter [Namita Bhattacharya] would tell me how he would keep chuckling when I spoke like him. It was my admiration for him that I did impressions of him, I don't like the term imitation. There was something endearing about Vajpayeeji. I looked up to him and that's why I kept talking like him in my talk show. He was there in every episode from day one.

Not once did he or his team members tell me to stop my act. Satire is the highest form of healthy criticism. He understood that this is the way actors/artistes/stand up comedians express themselves. My fondest memory of Vajpayeeji is at an event hosted by Nusli Wadia in Mumbai in 1999. I was keen to meet him, but by the time I could reach him, he was about to leave.

I was feeling terrible that I missed a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to interact with him. I was standing next to Chhagan Bhujbalji and I could see his convoy and security beginning to move. Suddenly, it stopped. What happened next was unbelievable, Vajpayeeji got off from the car and started walking towards us despite his knee problem. I thought he wanted to tell something to Bhujbalji, but he came towards me. He hugged me, patted my cheek and told me he was a great admirer of me. I died of excitement, This was the biggest award for me as an actor and talk show host.

At the end of every episode I would always say, 'Yeh acchi baat nahin hai' just the way he did. Now that he has left us, I again want to say his trademark line, 'Yeh acchi baat nahin hai' that he has gone.

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