It was the golden era when rural gujarati movies used to cross silver jubilee. During the span, Ramesh Mehta rose to fame & ruled hearts with his expressions and dialogue delivery. He was the synonym of comedy in gujarati cinema in 70s-80s. He could transform any tragic scene to comic one with ease. No comedian matched his style, acting, charm, fan following. Even today, Many imitates his dialogues in his way. His most popular line ઑહૉ હૉ…કયા ગામ ના ગૉરી resonates his presence in the hearts of many.
He was born on June 23, 1934 in Navagam village near Gondal, Saurashtra. He moved to Mumbai to be an artist and joined Indian National Theater. There He worked as Lightman initially but it did not take long when his Scriptwriting and acting skills got noticed. He came back to Gujarat and lived in Rajkot then on. He acted in over 200 gujarati films and wrote scripts for many of them. The importance of his role in any movie was equal to any lead actor in the movie. He passed away on May 11, 2012. Many bollywood and Gujarati cinema celebrities paid homage to the veteran actor in their own ways.
He won numerous awards for his skills and was firm believer of working hard to achieve the goal. He had his principle of living life on own terms. He said in one of his interview that No one can become Amitabh Bachchan or Manoj Kumar by just imitating them, It is the perseverance, hard work and dedication that take one forward not just luck. He was down to earth person who just didn’t work for money but rejoicing every moment of life at its best. His persona still inspires people to work hard, be dutiful, chase dreams and leave a mark on the world.
Gujarati Movies from 90s started losing audience due to same rural stories of Kediyas, Ghaghras, Rape scenes. Revolution started again in last few years and we see new urban gujarati movies pouring in and audience acknowledging it positively.
