Sanjeev Kumar was one of my favorite actors. Maybe because that my Dad looked a bit like him - kindly eyes, easy disposition. But also because I saw 'Manchali' which was one of my earliest movies in a theatre and liked it, and of course 'Sholay' and then one of my all time favorites 'Angoor'. I want to watch 'Pati Patni Aur Woh' and 'Aandhi' once again to get a better sense and also some of his other hits like 'Koshish' and other Gulzar movies.
So the moment I saw the]is book on the shelf I picked it up as the book to finish this tour. Raja's place that way is one place where you don't need to carry your books, there are always books there that you would want to read. It was written in an easy style by the authors.
Harihar Jariwala, that was his original name, and the early years which were quite tough - early death of his father, a mother who somehow held it all together, his two younger brothers and a sister, his early days of playing cricket at Oval Maidan with Satyen Kappu, his days as a theatre actor and then the struggle to make it into films. It was interesting to see how he would dress shabbily, how he would not forget a dialogue, how he would half listen but interpret perfectly and pull off the most difficult scenes, how he matched up to Dilip Kumar in his first shot. How he changed his name to Sanjay Kumar for the stunt films and how when Sanjay Khan became a hit he changed to Sanjeev Kumar. His love for non vegetarian food, booze, his smile, the way he would go to his friends houses and ask for non veg to be cooked and his legendary habit of coming late (but he would come on time for Master Bittoo's shots because he had exams). He would lend without keeping tab and it was totaled to a crore when he died in 1985!
Sanjeev Kumar had many women as friends but his romantic liaisons are limited to Nutan, Hema Malini (whom he almost married) and Sulakshana Pandit. I never knew of the Hema Malini connection (apparently they put them in separate hotels during the shooting of Sholay which was after their breakup). But he never married, played several old men's roles and died at the age of 47!! But they say his family had a history where men died early - both his brothers died - one before him and one soon after.
They say that no one could remain angry with him for long - his smile would melt the hardest hearts. I think that's what stays with me - his smile - one that slowly spreads from his eyes to his lips and the whole face and the whole screen. Wonderful stuff. There is a road named after him in Surat which was where he came from - would be nice to get a pic there when we go to Surat whenever!
1 comment:
A very good actor, and the authors have done well to capture the man and what made him tick.
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