A Forgotten Genius

I feel that Kader Khan is a forgotten genius.

This talented individual who was omnipresent during the late 70s, 80s and 90s primarily as a script / dialogue writer and additionally as a character actor has sadly passed into oblivion.

Wikipedia tells you how this professor of civil engineering got noticed by Dilip Kumar in the 70s and went on to write dialogues for numerous superhit films specifically starring Amitabh Bachchan (Coolie, Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Laawaris to name a few). The flair, drama, wit and poetry in those lines when backed by Bachchan's baritone stayed with the audience long after they had left the cinema hall.

He then transitioned to arguably the most versatile character actor in the mainstream Hindi film industry (save perhaps Amrish Puri and Anupam Kher), appearing in negative roles at first and supporting / comic roles later in his career. The epitome of his success was the association with Govinda and David Dhawan. Together, they were literally unstoppable in the 90s.

And then, it all just imploded in no time. Dhawan ran out of luck with his tried and tested formula, Govinda grew heavy in weight and manner and found it difficult to work with other filmmakers who in turn avoided him due to his indisciplined ways, and the film industry discovered the multi-faceted Paresh Rawal ...

That Rawal is a brilliant actor goes without saying, but in my mind I felt Kader Khan got a raw deal. Yes actors do age out, but it is quite astounding as to how quickly filmmakers moved past him! Fortunately, he appears to have had invested wisely and didn't end up destitute like others in his generation. 

Khan is quite old now, and I doubt he has the strength left to actually perform in feature films, but as a dialogue writer he could still play a role. I hope he gets his swan song before the Inevitable gets him too.