Nandu Bhende passed away last week. I didn’t know him well. But his father, thespian Atmaram was a strong early influence. In 1980, as an eager teenager, my partner, actress Shernaz Patel, and I managed a play with him, directed by my father. He was an absolute dude on stage, emoting frivolity and fury with equal élan. This unusual father-son relationship fascinated me.

Nandu Bhende had fronted many music bands during the psychedelic age