In this 3rd instalment, I continue on why I love this epic. This time, on the quasar-twins – the stellar, ensemble cast & the luminous characterisations.
For the fans, the casting itself has enough backstories, that, it might merit a mini web series of its own – how Gabbar was cast after Danny Denzongpa had to turn it down, how Amitabh needed Salim-Javed’s & Dharamendra’s reccos to land the part of Jai, how Sanjeev Kumar was interested to play Gabbar, how Dharmendra wanted to play Thakur, and how both were dissuaded, etc.
Salim-Javed (in this 4 part interview) talk about how, sub-consciously, they ended up creating a pastiche of polar contrasts. A clean, clipped Thakur vs an uncouth, ruthless Gabbar. A frisky, spirited Veeru vs a wry, laconic Jai. A colorful, tonga-driving, chatterbox Basanti vs a silent widow-in-white Radha. The play-offs & the run-ins between them managed to keep generations glued through the mammoth 198-minute saga.
But there’s never been any doubt about who was the piece de resistance. Ramesh Sippy once famously said, ‘If you intend to make a blockbuster, start with an outstanding villain.’ Casting newbie Amjad Khan, as Gabbar Singh, was that masterstroke. From the way he toys around with his gang members in the game of Russian roulette, to the menace he exudes during the Thakur family massacre, the sneering cockiness, the whimsical plans, the manic laughter – he personified unhinged wickedness. Satyajit Ray was so impressed that he went on to cast Amjad Khan as…(brace yourself) Wajid Ali Shah in ‘Shatranj ke Khilari’!
I remember this ad used to be on the back cover of Amar Chitra Kathas. Later, when I was in advertising, I used to wonder why would they pick such a dark villain to endorse a product for kids. Until I heard Javed Akhtar saying, ‘Here was pure evil, without even a shred of conscience. The power of such a character is magnetic, its irresistible.’
TRIVIA QUESTION #1!
What’s Gabbar Singh’s father’s name? (Yes, it’s there in the movie.) Answer at the bottom of the page!
Not just the leading cast, this was perhaps the first movie in India, where many of the supporting cast, some with almost walk-on roles, received a kind of mass adulation that I don’t think they ever received in the rest of their careers –
- Jagdeep as Soorma Bhopali, the sly timber trader, with that nasal drawl.
- Asrani as the ‘angrezon ke zamaane ke jailor’.
- Keshto Mukherjee, as Hariram Nai, the jail’s barber & the jailor’s mole
- AK Hangal as the blind Imam Sahab, the wise voice of reason
- Sachin as Imam Sahab’s soft-spoken son, Ahmed
- Leela Mishra as the garrulous old Mausi
- Viju Khote as Kaalia – he got just 2 scenes, but what without him, there wouldn’t have been any ‘Tera kya hoga Kaalia?’
- Mac Mohan as Sambha – who had all of three words of dialogue in the final cut of the movie – saying ‘Poore pachaas hajaar’. Believe he was pretty cross with Ramesh Sippy for almost editing out his role…until a white guy cleared him in US Customs, after recognising him as ‘the man on the rock with a gun!’
TRIVIA QUESTION #2!
Take a wild guess on what was the remuneration that Sachin received for Sholay? Answer at the bottom of the page!
One hears critique of how some of these characters & some of the comic interludes are really quite ‘stand-alone’; they don’t really advance the story in any way. Maybe true. But, boy, did they add to the rollicking entertainment? Remove even one of these characters from the movie, and the fans will tell you, they’d be missed.
People tend to speak about their favorite movies saying, ‘only so-and-so could have pulled off this role’. In Sholay, every single character & the actors playing them seemed indispensable. How much more righter can you get?
In the next one, we take a look at the magicians behind the screen. But before that…
TRIVIA ANSWERS:
#1 – Gabbar Singh’s father’s name? Hari Singh.
Where does it come in the movie? When his sentence is read out in the court – listen!
# 2 – Sachin got a refrigerator as his remuneration for being a part of Sholay.
Amjad Khan was an under-rated actor. He should have been the Mohanlal of Hindi cinema, had his versatility not been throttled by the roles he was typecast into.
True. One of my favourites too. Not just in negative characters, he excelled in many comic ones too.