Asrani, the Everyman whose presence lit up every film

The tragedy of a popular comic is that he — or she, as the case may be — is never allowed to break free from the burden of making people laugh.

Govardhan Kumar Asrani was one of the Indian film industry’s finest actors whose best work was confined to strong supporting acts. Never peripheral, always integral, Asrani’s very presence lifted the films he did, and it was hard to find a film he wasn’t in during his most productive phase during the 1970s and ’80s.

He passed away yesterday after a prolonged illness, at the age of 84.

The FTII-trained actor had talent and timing, but he came into the Hindi film industry in an era when men who looked like him — unremarkable, not too tall, not too short, just your average Joe — did not get to play heroes. However good they may be, and Asrani was u