Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) Director Rajkumar Santoshi, who directed Jagdeep in "Andaz Apna Apna", said the veteran actor-comedian was like family to him.

Jagdeep, who passed away at the age of 81 on Wednessday, started his cinema journey as a child star but came to be known as a comedy icon for his roles in "Aar Paar", "Bhabhi", “Sholay” and “Shehanshah”.

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“I never saw him angry. He was a fun loving person who had no ego despite working with some of the biggest directors of his time. He would always talk positive things about his contemporaries, he never spoke ill or criticised anyone,” Santoshi told PTI.

The director said Jagdeep was a great actor whose emotional side remained unexplored in Hindi cinema where he was pigeonholed as a comedy star.

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“As an actor, he was so talented. He had a great timing in comedy but at the same time, his emotional side was also very rich. He was known as a funny man but he was great at emotional scenes too. Sadly, no one offered him that many movies."

Santoshi directed the actor in his directorial debut "Ghayal" but the role ended up on the editing table due to the length of the movie. A similar thing happened with “Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahaani” but that never came in the way of their relationship.

Jagdeep memorably played Salman Khan's father in “Andaz Apna Apna” besides working in Santoshi's “Lajja” and "China Gate".

"He was there in 'Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani' but we had to cut the role due to length issues. The deleted scene of this movie is there on YouTube. These things never came between us. Unfortunately, he was not keeping well so we couldn't work together," he added.

Santoshi said Jagdeep's death was “a personal loss” to his family as he knew the actor from his father, director P L Santoshi's time.

"It is a personal loss for us. We were like family. He would call my father Guruji. He has worked with my father in 'Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke'. This film had received President Award. He was fourteen when he worked with my father, I was not even born then.

“My father cast him in a film in 1967-68. It was called 'Roop Rupaiya' and Jagdeep was the hero in it but the film released only in one territory. Distribution had to be stopped because of political problems. I was very fond of him as a person,” Santoshi added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)