Ramesh Deo was one of the first Marathi stars to settle in Juhu alongside Hindi film stars, reveals noted author and friend Dilip Thakur

Veteran actor and filmmaker, Ramesh Deo passed away on February 2, after suffering a heart attack. ETimes reached out to senior journalist and author Dilip Thakur, who has been a close friend of Ramesh Deo and his wife Seema Deo for many years. Thakur shared some unforgettable anecdotes and memories from Ramesh Deo's life and career. Read on:

When Ramesh Deo moved to Juhu to live in Meghdoot building, it became a huge deal in the Marathi film industry.The reason why this became big news is because Marathi actors preferred to settle in Dadar and Vile Parle suburbs. But Ramesh Deo shifted to Juhu, where all the big Hindi film stars used to live. Deo used to live in Girgaon and then he shifted straight to Juhu.
The entire film industry attended the 50th wedding anniversary of Ramesh Deo and Seema Deo, including Amitabh Bachchan and many other stars from both the Hindi and Marathi film industries.

When Seema and Ramesh were still younger actors, they used to travel to studios in the northern suburbs of Mumbai by train. On one such day, Seema and her mother boarded the train at Charni Road as they were to go for their shooting to Filmistan Studio. Ramesh Deo got into the same train at Grant Road. During those days, local trains in Mumbai used to have only 6 coaches and Ramesh went and sat in front of Seema and her mother.
Seema’s mother did not like him as, at the time, Ramesh used to play negative roles in films. Seema’s mother would often look at him with anger.
Both Seema and Ramesh were headed to Filmistan. Seema was going to Filmistan for the first time and didn't really know the way. Ramesh Deo also got off from the train at Goregaon, just like Seema and her mother. The two women assumed Ramesh was also heading to the same studio, so they started following him.
The next film that they worked together in was Aaliya Bhogasi from 1957. They played brother sister in that film and after working together in about four-five films, Ramesh Deo realized that Seema took good care of him, so he proposed to her. The two got married in Kolhapur.
The wedding photographer didn’t turn up on the day of their marriage so they don't have a single photograph of their wedding. The photographs that are often circulated in the media are from a film that the two worked together in.


Ramesh used to live in Kolhapur and his brother Umesh Deo used to know director Dinkar Patil. Umesh asked Patil to give Ramesh work in one of his films. Ramesh was given one scene in the film Ram Ram Pahuna, which he shot for but the role got edited out due to the length of the film. Although Ramesh was credited in the film, the scene was missing from the theatrical cut, so eventually his first film became ‘Paatlaachi Por’ by Raja Paranjape.


He worked with Amitabh Bachchan in Kasauti and Anand and with Rajesh Khanna in Jai Jai Shiv Shankar and Anand. Many years ago, Ramesh Deo told me that the makers wanted to remove Amitabh Bachchan from the film Kasauti as most of his films had flopped during that time. Ramesh Deo and Hema Malini requested the makers to not throw him out of the film. Kasauti released after Zanjeer and during the Zanjeer party, Kasauti’s director Aravind Sen was praising Amitabh Bachchan. Ramesh told me, “I was surprised to see the same man who didn't want Amitabh in the film was singing praises.” And that is the reason Amitabh Bachchan did not work with Aravind Sen after Kasauti.
He was very friendly with Rajesh Khanna. Both were from Girgaon and they would converse with each other in Marathi. Ramesh Deo used to tell me that Seema Deo was scared to meet Rajesh Khanna because he was a huge superstar. Rajesh Khanna started speaking to them in Marathi during the making of Anand, so that Seema would become comfortable in his company. Ramesh Deo and Seema Deo were part of the cast of Jai Jai Shiv Shankar.