Well Known saint Sai Baba of Shirdi is worshipped by many devotees all over India. But, hardly anyone living today, has seen him, as Baba said good bye to this world in 1918. Therefore, Baba is identified only through his photographs and his idols at different places, including Shirdi, in Maharashtra. However, there is one actor, who is a perfect match for the saint. And, he is Sudhir Dalvi. He is a popular Film and TV actor; but he first came into limelight with Manoj Kumar’s hit film of 1977 , ‘Shirdi Ke Sai Baba’ in which he played the title role of the popular saint.

Sudhir Dalvi later found character roles in many Hindi and Marathi films, numbering more than 60. But, in Hindi, he was often used to play a Baba or fakir. Do you remember that famous hit song ‘Aadmi Musafir hai, Aata hai Jataa hai…”? This was from the film  ‘Apnapan’,  which picturised on him and another Marathi actress Nivedita Joshi Saraf, who was then a child star. Sudhir Dalvi was later repeated in the same role of Sai Baba, by film maker Deepak Balraj in his 2001 film ‘Shirdi Sai Baba’, which was also a multi starrer film. This film was later dubbed in Marathi, as there were other popular Marathi artistes in this film, besides Sudhir Dalvi.

Sudhir Dalvi was last seen in 2011 Marathi film ‘Karuya Udyachi Baat’ by Kshitij Zarapkar. In the meanwhile, he performed in few Hindi serials. But, now he is making his comeback to both Hindi and Marathi films and that too with his Sai Baba image. His hindi film ‘Mere Sai Ram’, is releasing shortly and his Marathi film ‘Lord of Shingnapur’ is also releasing soon. In both the films, he is playing the role of Saibaba, though both the films, talk more about his devotees, rather than focusing more on his character. But, one thing is sure that if any film maker has to show Sai Baba in their films, they cannot think of anyone else, than Mr. Sudhir Dalvi.