Obituary: Jaspal Bhatti, the funnyman of Indian television

The comedian, who died in a car accident today, will be remembered for his TV series 'Flop Show' and mini capsules 'Ulta Pulta'

Jaspal Singh Bhatti, one of the most known comedians of Indian television, touched a chord with the audience by highlighting everyday problems of the common man through simple and honest humour.

Bhatti, 57, who died in a car accident in the wee hours today, will always be remembered for his television series 'Flop Show' and mini capsules 'Ulta Pulta' during the golden days of Doordarshan in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The low-budget series 'Flop Show' is remembered even today for taking on the problems of middle class Indians in a quirky way. His wife Savita Bhatti produced the show and acted in all the episodes as his wife.

Born on March 3, 1955 at Amritsar in a Rajput Sikh family, Bhatti graduated from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh as an electrical engineer.

He became popular with his street plays in the city. His plays were spoofs ridiculing corruption in society.

Before venturing into television, he was a cartoonist for the The Tribune newspaper in Chandigarh.

After a successful stint on television with his show, Bhatti's subsequently acted in Hindi and Punjabi films and got his due recognition in the film industry with Salman Khan starrer "Janam Samjha Karo" in 1999 where he played Salman's personal secretary.

Bhatti played the role of Jolly Good Singh, a guard, in Aamir Khan-Kajol starrer 'Fanaa'. He also starred in the comedy Punjabi film 'Jijaji'.     His first directorial venture was a feature film in his native Punjabi language 'Mahaul Theek Hai', a humorous take on Punjab police. It was well received amongst audience.

Bhatti appeared on many reality shows after that. He was seen in 'Comedy ka King Kaun' as a co-judge with actress Divya Dutta and also presented his dancing abilities in 'Nach Baliye' with wife Savita.

Bhatti set up a training school and a studio in Mohali near Chandigarh called 'Joke Factory' and also an animation school 'Mad Arts', where he launched a new 52-episode comedy series titled 'Thank You Jijaji'.

The school also produced an animation film on female foeticide which won the second prize in the Advantage India organized by 1take media. It won a certificate of merit at the IDPA-2008 Awards in Mumbai.

The comedian's latest film 'Power Cut', is based on the frequent power cuts in Punjab.