The Amjad Khan We Didn’t Know

None
of
Amjad
Khan’s
subsequent
roles
could
outshine

Sholay.
He
had
begun
his
career
at
the
top
and
had
no
higher
peaks
left
to
conquer.
Dinesh
Raheja
salutes
the
iconic
actor
on
his
80th
birth
anniversary.

Amjad
Khan
didn’t
resort
to
gimmicks
like
grotesque
get-ups
or
weird
wigs
to
strike
fear
in
the
hearts
of
the
audience.

As
the
iconic
villain
Gabbar
Singh
in

Sholay
(1975),
it
was
enough
for
his
gimlet
eyes
to
bore
into
his
beaten-up
henchmen
and
for
his
whiplash
voice
to
boom
‘Kitney
aadmi
the?‘
to
ensure
a
precognition
of
impending
doom
rippling
through
the
theatre.

Amjad
Khan
didn’t
resort
to
splashing
the
screen
with
blood
and
gore
to
launch
a
thousand
screams.
In
films
like

Sholay,
Inkaar
and

Mr
Natwarlal,
he
delivered
the
bads
through
the
malevolence
expressed
in
his
eyes
and
his
swaggering
body
language.

Yet,
astonishingly,
Amjad’s
histrionic
range
encompassed
comic
and
sympathetic
roles
too!
In
fact,
many
of
the
actor’s
prominent
post-Sholay
roles
showcased
him
in
characters
shaded
with
many
nuanced
hues
of
grey.

For
10
years
after

Sholay,
Amjad’s
career
sparkled
luminously
and
he
did
15
to
18
films
on
the
average
every
year.
But
the
candle
that
burns
twice
as
bright,
they
say,
lasts
half
as
long.
The
actor
unexpectedly
passed
away
in
1992
at
the
age
of
48.

On
November
12,
it
will
be
80
years
since
the
day
Amjad
was
born
as
the
elder
son
of
character
actor
Jayant.

His
father
started
as
the
leading
man
in
stunt
films
of
the
1930s
before
finding
fame
as
a
well-known
supporting
actor.

Young
Amjad
did
bit
roles
in
films
featuring
his
father
like

Nazneen
(1951)
and

Maya
(1961)
and
immersed
himself
in
theatre
during
his
college
days.
In
1965,
Amjad
was
to
be
launched
as
a
hero
with
a
home
production,

Patthar
Ke
Sanam,
but
the
film
stalled.

It
took
a
decade
for
Amjad
to
finally
court
fame.
His
luck
turned
when
screen
writers
Salim-Javed
recommended
his
name
to
Director
Ramesh
Sippy
to
play
a
dreaded
dacoit
Gabbar
Singh
in

Sholay.

Sippy
had
wanted
to
cast
Danny
Denzongpa
as
the
main
antagonist
in
his
film
but
when
dates
proved
a
stumbling
block,
he
screen-tested
Amjad.
The
struggling
actor
signed

Sholay
on
the
very
day
his
eldest
son
Shadaab
was
born.

Playing
Gabbar
Singh
was
an
acid
test
for
the
new
parent,
whose
own
father
Jayant
passed
away
from
cancer
a
few
months
before
the
release
of

Sholay.

Amjad
submerged
himself
into
the
role.

Eschewing
the
prototype
of
the

dhoti-clad
dacoit,
Amjad
sported
army
fatigues
purchased
from
Chor
Bazaar,
strung
a
bullet
belt
over
his
shoulder
and
even
blackened
his
teeth
to
vivify
the
tobacco-chewing
Gabbar
Singh.

The

Sholay
Fallout…
Stardom
But
Snapped
Ties
With
Salim-Javed
and
Sippy

Sholay
proved
to
be
era-defining
super
hit
and
Amjad
won
tremendous
appreciation.

His
bullying
belligerence
and
dead-soul
gaze
sent
chills
running
down
spines
even
when
film
censor
considerations
meant
the
violence
was
not
explicit.
Gabbar
Singh’s
murder
of
a
teenaged
boy
(Sachin)
is
shown
by
his
crushing
a
fly
on
his
hand,
and
after
he
aims
a
gun
at
a
child,
all
we
hear
is
the
whistling
of
a
steam
engine.

Astringent
dialogue
fortified
Gabbar
Singh’s
arsenal.

Lines
like
‘So
jaa
nahin
toh
Gabbar

aa
jayega‘
became
part
of
the
daily
vernacular,
and
this
popularly
resulted
in
the
release
of
audio
cassettes
of

Sholay‘s
dialogue.

Another
unprecedented
result
of
Amjad’s
popularity
was
a
villain
being
lionised
in
advertisements
—
biscuits
were
hawked
as
‘Gabbar

ki
asli
pasand‘!

But
there
was
a
falling
out
as
well.

In
the
hurly
burly
of
film-making,
Amjad’s
voice
was
initially
suspected
to
be
weak,
and
Salim-Javed
had
held
a
discussion
with
Sippy
about
replacing
him
or
getting
his
voice
dubbed
until
better
sense
prevailed.
But
Amjad
never
worked
with
Salim-Javed
or
Ramesh
Sippy
again.

Amjad
parlayed
his

Sholay
success
into
stardom,
and
was
not
lacking
for
good
work.

But
the
best
of
times
threatened
to
turn
into
the
worst
of
times.

In
1976,
the
very
next
year
after

Sholay,
Amjad
met
with
a
near-fatal
car
accident
while
travelling
to
the
Goa
location
of

The
Great
Gambler.

The
steering
wheel
collided
with
his
chest
and
he
was
unconscious
in
hospital
with
a
punctured
lung.
It
was
his
friend
Amitabh
Bachchan
who
signed
the
hospital
papers,
and
Amjad
effected
a
miraculous
recovery.

In
1977,
a
dozen
films
featuring
Amjad
crowded
the
theatres.

Among
them
was
Satyajit
Ray’s
prestige
production

Shatranj
Ke
Khiladi.

He
also
played
the
villain
in
big
hits
like

Hum
Kisise
Kum
Naheen,
Parvarish
and,
most
notably,

Inkaar.

In
the
last
film,
he
played
a
child
kidnapper
who
uncorks
beer
bottles
with
his
teeth
and
whose
perversities
include
torturing
a
cockroach
with
a
lit
cigarette
and
strangling
a
dog
with
his
bare
hands.

Amjad
effectively
captured
human
debasement
with
a
sadistic
streak
in
his
eyes,
and
a
nervous
twitch
of
his
facial
muscles.

Remarkably,
Amjad
played
Amitabh
Bachchan’s
father
in

Parvarish
(and
later
in

Suhaag,
1979,
and

Lawaris,
1981)
though
they
were
around
the
same
age.
The
weight
that
Amjad
put
on
after
his
accident
became
a
factor.

Amjad
had
become
good
friends
with
Amitabh
during

Sholay
and
the
two
would
mockingly
call
each
other
‘Shorty’.

Amjad
was
an
integral
part
of
many
Amitabh
films
during
his
superstar
days
—
1981
alone
saw
the
release
of
as
many
as
five
of
their
films
together,
namedly

Yaarana,
Laawaris,
Kaalia,
Barsaat
Ki
Ek
Raat
and

Naseeb.

But
it
must
be
said
that
none
of
Amjad’s
subsequent
roles
could
outshine

Sholay.

Amjad
had
begun
his
career
at
the
top
and
had
no
higher
peaks
left
to
conquer.

Amjad
the
Comedian
and
Amjad
the
Leading
Man

Actor
Imtiaz
Khan
revealed
that
when
his
brother
Amjad
had
to
enact
a
rape
scene
in

Barsaat
Ki
Ek
Raat
with
Rakhee,
he
inexplicably
broke
into
a
rash.
That’s
because
such
scenes
were
totally
against
his
personal
beliefs.

Amjad,
not
surprisingly,
segued
to
roles
with
comic
and
positive
shades
early
on
in
his
career.

In

Muqaddar
Ka
Sikandar
(1978),
his
actions
are
motivated
by
a
desire
to
avenge
his
unrequited
love
for
Zohrabai
(Rekha).

The
Vinod
Mehra-Bindiya
Goswami
potboiler

Dada
(1979)
was
primarily
about
Amjad
character’s
redemption
arc,
and
Amjad
bagged
his
first
Best
Supporting
Actor
Filmfare
award.
He
won
the
same
trophy
for

Yaarana
(1981),
in
which
he
played
Amitabh’s
good-hearted
mentor.

Dada
proved
to
be
a
sleeper
hit
and
Amjad
signed
numerous
B-grade
films
as
the
protagonist,
often
paired
opposite
popular
actresses
like
Vidya
Sinha
(Josh).
He
even
had
a
romantic
song

Tainu
Mainu
Dekhe
Zamana
with
petite
Kajal
Kiran
in

Hum
Se
Hai
Zamana.

Amjad’s
comic
skills
flowered
in
the
1980s.

He
found
new
admirers
as
the
wisecracking
gum-chewing,
eponymously
named
policeman
of

Qurbani
(1980)
and
as
the

hawaldar
giving
chase
to
the
eloping
couple
in

Love
Story
(1981).

He
was
nominated
for
Best
Performance
In
A
Comic
Role
for

Utsav
(1984)
and

Maa
Kasam
(1985).

But
as
the
decade
progressed,
Amjad’s
career
lost
its
edge,
and
villains
like
Amrish
Puri
and
Shakti
Kapoor
took
over.

Amjad
turned
to
direction
with
the
slickly
mounted

Chor
Police
(1983)
and

Ameer
Aadmi
Gareeb
Aadmi
(1985)
but
both
films
failed
to
woo
the
box
office.
His
grand
plans
of
directing

Lambai
Chaudai
starring
Amitabh
Bachchan
and
himself
also
came
to
naught.

Amjad
never
hung
up
his
boots.

He
continued
to
enjoy
acting.

He
even
reprised
his
most
memorable
role
Gabbar
Singh
in
the
1991
film

Ramgarh
Ke
Sholay.

In
1992,
Amjad
succumbed
to
a
heart
attack
and
passed
away
prematurely.
His
cinematic
alter
ego,
Gabbar
Singh,
however,
remains
immortal.