Shatrughan Sinha : Namesake of Self Confidence, Style and Wit !
Shatrughan Sinha’s biography will be having chapters on his acting career, political career, his real life incidences and his relationship with Amitabh Bachchan.
Late Raaj Kumar and Shatrughan Sinha can be said as two truly stylish hindi film stars whose “I don’t care” attitude was not seen with hostility among the film fraternity. Audience loved their cynical mannerisms on screen and filmi people liked and endured their real life “not seen before” behavior. No wonder that Raaj Kumar who hardly attended any filmi party, attended wedding ceremony of Shatrughan Sinha and it’s said that he danced for whole night there.
Pakistan’s Army chief and president Late General Zia Ul Haq, used to be a fan of Shatrughan Sinha and he gave him a status of the “State guest” in 1981. And when Gen Zia himself suddenly came to India to watch a cricket match in Jaipur and played Cricket diplomacy, he again called Shatrughan Sinha to come and watch the match with him.
Acting career :
Though every actor plays a character in his own way, Shatrughan Sinha’s style of acting where actor plays the character in such a way as if he is that character in real life. He doesn’t go for borrowing the acting style from some real life characters rather he brings that character within his own styles. Only sometimes actors like him go away from themselves and that too when they get some special get ups. Mostly we see Shatrughan Sinha on the screen as a performer. Sometimes we like his personification of the character and sometimes we find it loud but then we find Shatrughan Sinha loud in real life also. If Shatrughan Sinha is standing in a crowd it’s difficult not to pay attention to him because his gestures will fetch the attention. Knowingly or unknowingly he is an attention seeker and this is visible on screen also. His actor seems to believes in doing something. For example some people can not speak without making too many movements of their hands and Shatrughan Sinha can be that actor who has to do some movements on screen. Something should be visible. Underplay is not a word for such actors. Give him a scene where his character is passing through tensions, lots of troubles and muscles of his face will come into the action because he has to do something to bring out that emotion before the audience.
His philosophy has been to look and do different than others so that becomes visible on screen also. The way he tilts his head while lighting his cigarettes or the way he uses his bended hands to put emphasis on some dialogues or the way he brings some unusual body movements like he jerks his head when he is about to say a powerful dialogue, are his own creations or say styles. These things are not under control by his directors.
His acting philosophy seems to believe in the following line.
“Interact with audience in a visible manner. Don’t put burden on them to understand your performance“.
So many times it works and it has worked in his case. The way he provokes crowd in Aaj Ka MLA Ram Avtar, to attack on stage where Rajesh Khanna is giving his speech says a lot about his effect on masses. He has got that powerful voice and he uses it to fullest.
Rajini Kant also opted similar way of acting and he has got much bigger success in establishing his own style of acting. These styles of these actors look good on them only and others who try to imitate them look like cheap mimicry artists. So this personification of characters is not an easy task either. It’s a patented way of acting!!!!
It’s said that Raaj Kumar and Shatrughan Sinha, both have been two such actors who looked bit self indulgent in the solo hero based films but pit them against any other actor and they would over shadow performances of other actors present in the film.
Struggling days:
Film Industry has yet to see another newcomer like a highly confident Shatrughan Sinha, who when came to Bombay, after having Diploma in acting from FTII, Pune, demanded taxi fare from the producers whenever he was called for a screen test or for a meeting. Subhash Ghai said once that he has yet to see a man with more self confidence than Shatrughan Sinha.
At a time when Hindi cinema’s so called golden period was going on and handsome heros were romancing their heroines in musical love stories, a tall but thin man, who was not good looking at all and to make it worse he had a scar on his face below the lower lip, entered the hindi cine industry. Later that scar became his beauty spot and the way he rubbed his thumb at that scar became his trademark.
He did not take much time in getting an opportunity of playing a small role of a police inspector in Mohan Sehgal’s “Sajan”, starring Manoj Kumar and Asha Parekh. He had a small role and this was his first film but these things did not deter him to show to the heroine of the film, Asha Parekh that he did not chew his words. It’s said that she had a small fight or something like that with him.
Somehow Shatrughan Sinha made friends with Mumtaz and Late Sanjeev Kumar and in spite of talks about attitude of Shatrughan Sinha in the air, they recommended his name for their film Khilona.
He played supporting roles in many films but real blessing for him came through Gulzar’s Mere Apne.
He and Vinod Khanna could prove their real talent through this film and Meena Kumari was highly impressed with the strange dialogue delivery of Shatrughan Sinha which followed no set pattern of delivering the dialogues. He took the pauses whenever he liked in between the dialogues. People applauded this man in the villainous role in Mere Apne and his dialogue,
“Chhenu ke mohalle mein gundagardi nahin (Chhenu will not bear any vandalism in his area) became quite popular. He matched Vinod Khanna’s intense acting talent in this film. His mischievous smile and naughty eyes expressed more in the scenes than the dialogues given to him. Same thing was later repeated and exploited in Kala Pathar against Amitabh Bachchan.
In early 3-4 years of 70s he played a villain in many successful films and before doing Blackmail in 1973 he had become established as a sophisticated and stylish villain. He became first villain who would take care of his clothes or watch or goggles in between the fight scenes.
* * * *
His starry days of 70s:
Blackmail turned out to be a film where his capacity to play a hero became quite visible. In this film before he shows his evil side, he plays usual lover of Rakhee and all of a sudden he shows a different and opposite side of his character. If one doubts the acting range of Shatrughan Sinha then he should watch Blackmail.
Next film which promoted him completely and gave directors a chance to think to cast him as a hero was Dost in 1974. Dulal Guha’s “Dost” extracted best out of him. Dost is counted as one of his best performances and one of the best films. Film was true to his real life persona. He played a naughty thief who could do anything for the sake of friendship. He was riding high with the success of his films. In 1976 his old friend Subhash Ghai, who was also a FTII diploma holder in acting, after getting disappointments in his acting profession got a chance to become a director. His script was rejected by many Producers. He approached producer NN Sippy, who said that he wished to make a film with Shatrughan Sinha and if actor becomes agree to do the film on this story then he can produce it. But, he cautioned Subhash Ghai that Shatrughan Sinha had already rejected few stories which he had taken to him.
Subhash Ghai went with Sippy to meet Shatrughan Sinha and narrated the story and to the surprise of NN Sippy, Shatrughan Sinha said,” I love the story, it’s written for me only”. Shocked, NN Sippy looked at Ghai, who was also looking at him with a smile on his face.
Shatrughan Sinha respected the friendship and relationship and did Kalicharan and film changed the destiny of Subhash Ghai. Yes Kalicharan established market for Shatrughan Sinha as a hero but Shatrughan Sinha was already a highly successful actor in negative roles and hero no hero he was already a famous star. Kalicharan brought fortune to two people, director Subhash Ghai and actress Reena Roy.
Shatrughan Sinha played first time a double role here and story is not very different from the Don. Here in Kalicharan a police officer plants a criminal in police force in the place of a dead police inspector because his face resembles with the dead police officer.
Shatrughan Sinha played lead role in many films in 1976 and in 1977. He did a social drama, “Aadmi Sadak ka” directed by Devendra Goel.
He won heart of audiences, who loved family dramas, with this film where he played a benevolent character. One of his song from this film,” Aaj Mere Yaar kee Shadi hai” (Its wedding of my friend today) has become a permanent song for any marriage happening in India. Band parties essentially have to sing and play this song.
Team of Shatrughan Sinha-Subhash Ghai and Reena Roy brought yet another super hit film Vishwanath in 1978. People created noise with their clapping when Shatrughan Sinha said loudly, Jali ko Aag kehte hain, Bujhi ko raakh kehte hain, jis raakh se barud bane use Vishwanath kehte hain”
Shatrughan Sinha did one more film Gautam Govinda with Subhash Ghai in 1979. Film is credited to have one of the rare song of Kishor Kumar, “Ek Ritu jay ek ritu jaye mausam badle na badle naseeb”.
He appeared in Raj Kumar Kohli’s multi starrer Jaani Dushman (1979). Almost every big film maker of that era worked with Shatrughan Sinha in those years. He did not get a popular singer to sing his lines in Naseeb but still his presence can’t be ignored in this multi-starrer film.
When late Yash Johar father of Karan Johar started his own production Company Dharma Productions then he signed Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha in Dostana.
Shatrughan Sinha had been playing lead roles since last 5-6 years and in this film when he said to Zeenat Aman,” Sheetal, I will save Vijay, but you will have to spend one night with me, That will be my fees” cinema halls resounded with the noise of audience. Such was his effect on audience in a villainous role. Never before an on-screen villain was loved by the audience in the way Shatrughan Sinha was loved.
Manoj Kumar was making his magnum opus patriotic drama Kranti and he signed Shatrughan Sinha also in the role of a muslim patriot Kareem Khan, the warrior of Jhansi ki Rani’s army, and audience loved him.
He had few dialogues but people applauded whenever he roared on the screen. This can be said as one of his one of the most restrained performances also in commercial hindi films.
80s
Amitabh did not work with him after Kala Pathar. Vinod Khanna had left films and India to pursue his spiritual aspirations and Industry truly was passing through the phase of one man Industry. Kumar Gaurav and Sanjay Datt as next generation actors, had appeared on the scene but still Shatrughan Sinha gave some hit films. He tried full fledged comedy, Naram Garam, with Hrikesh Mukherjee. He got to sing a song also here.
Though he had sung a song in 1970s also.
He did many films in 80s some of which got success and some went flop. He did off beat Antarjali Yatra with Gautam Ghosh in 1987 but the film which boosted his career once again was Rakesh Roshan’s directorial debut film Khudgarz (1987). Film established Rakesh Roshan as a director and fuelled the career of Shatrughan Sinha for some more years. Shatrughan Sinha was at home in the role of a Bihari person.
Politics:
During Bofors days in late 80s he got interested in politics also and supported VP Singh’s movement against Rajiv Gandhi and later he joined BJP.
Political parties often use film stars during elections and use their star power to attract the crowd in rallies but Shatrughan Sinha has never been an easy thing to swallow. He worked hard for BJP but made it clear to the BJP’s think tank and power controllers that they c’dn’t ignore him after they came in position to make government in centre. He dared to take a stand against very powerful BJP politician and party’s general secy. of many years, late Pramod Mhajan and asked openly that what was the qualification of Pramod Mahajan so that he could have got the rank of a Cabinet Minister and why he could not be given the role of a cabinet minister? He forced BJP to make him cabinet minister in health ministry. Though he was not well versed in indoor politics and soon he found that rivals within his own party were targeting him and a section of media was maneuvered to write against him on a daily basis. He was forced to leave the health ministry and later he was given the charge of Ministry of Shipping.
Two years ago he tried hard again during Bihar assembly elections that BJP should declare him as the CM candidate but he got no support. He has been following a low profile since then. Moreover he is a fighter and his die hard attitude and strong determination can bring him unexpected things in life. It never can be said that he is finished either as an actor or as a famous person.
TV:
In the mid 90s he also made an entry in to the TV world and brought his chat show “Shot Gun Show”. He invited famous scholars, politicians, commentators, academicians, thinkers, scientists and people from almost all areas and talked with him full authority. His well read personality came before the people through this program. His wit was always at his best in the program. Unlike his on-screen image, he was a polite person here and often addressed, respected and aged, people as “Sir”.
* * * *
Amitabh Factor:
Without Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha’s biography can not be written.
During his struggling days, Shatrughan Sinha made friends with Anwar Ali, younger brother of Mehmood. Almost at same time Amitabh Bachchan also had reached Bombay and had done Saat Hindustani with Anwar Ali. All the three became friends. Amitabh and Shatrughan Sinha did 2-3 films together and soon Shatrughan Sinha became a famous star after the success of Gulzar’s film Mere Apne. He had become an established villain by the end of the year 1972 while Amitabh had only one hit film Anand by then where he was a supporting cast. Amitabh and Anwar Ali got a film Bombay to Goa and their producer and director wanted Shatrughan Sinha to play the role of villain but Shatrughan Sinha did not have time to do that film. Amitabh and Anwar Ali pressurized and convinced Shatrughan Sinha and he did the film. He had no significant role in this film.
They were good friends but it’s often seen that friends of struggling days don’t continue their friendship once they become successful. It happened with Amitabh and Shatrughan Sinha also and their relationship started deteriorating.
It was said that when Shatrughan Sinha had become a star and Amitabh was still a struggler, Amitabh went to meet Shatrughan Sinha at his new residence but Shatrughan Sinha made him wait for few hours before meeting him. Except two of them, nobody knows the truth but Kala Pathar was the last film they did together and according to Shatrughan Sinha, “I did few films with Amitabh but I should say here that he did not want me to do those films and Kala Pathar was the last nail in the coffin of our friendship”. During the shooting of Kala Pathar they were not on speaking terms.
Years later in 1997-98, a journalist (now M.P) had asked Amitabh Bachchan in his TV program,” Amitabh ji, you could not get success in politics while your old friend Shatrughan Sinha got it”
Amitabh had replied,” He knew politics so he got a success, I did not know it so I got a failure”.
Journalist asked,” What was the reason, why your friendship got soured with Shatrughan Sinha”.
He recited the whole incidence mentioned above.
Amitabh did not support exact incidence but said,”He had become a big star by then while I was a nobody”.
Shatrughan Sinha put blame on other people for their soured relations. He said” few people like Prakash Mehra, first would sing Amitabh’s praises then would say things against him and again would revert to singing his praises”.
He said,” Amitabh decided not to work with me after Kala Pathar. I have not embarrassed him ever by asking about these things”.
Then whole ABCL debacle happened and there were news that Amitabh Bachchan’s two residences in Bombay were to be sealed.
Shatrughan Sinha had said,” Amitabh is persecuted because he is Amitabh. He has suffered because he is Amitabh Bachchan“.
Shatrughan Sinha often has been repeating from the stage that Amitabh was and is, not only better than others but he was different also.
But Shatrughan Sinha did not chew his words whenever a chance came.
During the UP assembly elections in 2002 and Shatrughan Sinha was avoiding the election and had gone to USA for his play directed by Ramesh Talwar,” Pati Patni aur woh”. BJP was trying to lure him but he remained sulky.
Samajwadi Party had used Amitabh Bachchan, though through indirect measures. They arranged for blood donation camps etc and Amitabh attended those social works where he was seen as an associates of SP. Though he did not directly say people to vote for SP but message was quite clear.
Rajnath Singh of BJP got success in convincing Shatrughan Sinha and he came back from USA and reached directly to UP. He attended election campaign and roared poetically and sarcastically from the stage in his trademark voice,
” Khoob parda hai ke chilman se lage, baithe hain
Saaf chuthe bhi nahin, Saamne aate bhi nahin “
Shatrughan Sinha praised openly Amitabh’s acting talent but it’s hard to find Amitabh saying anything about his old colleagues, neither good nor bad. He maintains a silence.
Latest rumour is that Amitabh sent sweets to Shatrughan Sinha after the marriage of Abhishek Bachchan but Shatrughan Sinha refused to accept the sweet and said that when he was not invited in marriage then for what purpose he has been sent sweets?
Often both the old friends are seen standing on opposite poles and this sweet-sour-bitter relationship continues to generate stories for media.
* * * *
Shatrughan Sinha often says that when he was studying in FTII then he used to think that he had neither got a handsome face nor a charming personality so how he would become successful in film Industry. One of his teachers used to say,” Either do better than others and become best or do different things than others”.
He says,” If I was not better than others then I tried to be different, and people can be seen copying Shatrughan Sinha but nobody can find Shatrughan Sinha copying any other actor”
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Wow!!! This is quite an indepth article on the Shotgun Master himself. Sinha has this uncanny talent to woo the middle class in India even when he and the viewer knew he would on purpose go for the “over the top” acting. But whenever he restrained himself it was simply voila!!! It was a crime to not give due recognition to one of his best performances in Antarjali Yatra… as the guy in the cemetry who burns bodies… this was a far cry for the trash he did in the eighties – which incidentally was one of the reasons why there appeared a divide between the middle class who once loved Sinha and now just couldn’t bear to watch him… the Dacoit, Inspector, Chenu kind of roles pushed his acting career into the coffin.
Here was one of the most charismatic, larger than life actor with a tremendous magnetic personality and he just threw it all away via the choices he made in movies.
And of course no one and I mean no one in Bollywood comes close to being so spontaneous in making those punch in your face quotes.
Yes Oz,
Wit is the asset of Shatrughan Sinha. For the sake of his sharp mind, I always started Filmfare from the last page, just as people read Urdu Books, because that was the page where his sharp, funny and sometimes sarcastic lines were printed.
This is true he did not plan much about his career but 80s scene was very different. He appeared in multi starrer and they were mostly hit. Surely he earned money from those films but nothing was promoting him as an actor.
Antarjali Yatra was a brave and nice attempt by him.
Again his resurrected film life with the success of Khudgarz did not bring him better films.
But then his political interests have also to be blamed. One cant ride two horses and can give his best.
But surely here is man, who does not shy away from any platform, it does not matter who is the opponent. and he Dared to show off not only in his films but in real life also.
That makes him special.
People praised his play” Pati Patni aur woh”.
But this is true that he did not utilize his acting talent completely. Though he has been a charm regarding his old films. When I got to know that he and Raaj Kumar acted in film based on Shidny Sheldon’s Second Lady, I got immediate yearning to see Sharara.
Hope someday he again brings a performance which satisfy actor inside him and his audience.
can’t stop but mention the dialogue from the film kala pathal i think…
when he plays cards with some goons, the goons cheat and it’s obvious for general people to accept defeat because they can’t fight, if it’s a conventional hero he fights with them..but not our shotgun…
he says theen badshaa when he had only 2, when asked to show them, he shows the two of them and replies when asked to show the third..
“theesra badshaa hum hai”
we can’t stop saying, sala kya dialogue mara hai
Shatrughan Sinha is the one and only. Allegedly, Rajnikant, in his (rajni’s) struggling days, looked up to Shotgun for inspiration – when he wanted to try/show something different to captivate the viewers (and compensate for his not so good looking physic) – ergo his cigarette throws and moves.
RK, your post reminded me of those days when I was in high school. The concept of pocket money didn’t exist for me – and even if I get some money to satiate my extra curricular curiosity, comics and fiction ware were allowed but filmy mags were off limits. The work around? I used to promptly show up at my friendly neighborhood barber shop, every month, to read Shotgun’s wiseass comebacks in the Q&A feature in the latest Stardust – making the best use of the waiting time to get a hair cut.
oops – you got it right – it was filmfare.
second lady is by irwing wallace. it was filmified as sharara? hmm. btw, rk, i am still looking for that kumar gaurav’s movie – guyana. no luck so far.
shotgun with his over the top OTT acting was brilliant. it was style personified. The same cannot be said about his foray into politics. I remember an instance during question hour when he was the cabinet minister(health). Ambika Soni asked him some basic question on the state of affairs of the hospitals. Shotgun in his unique style replied.’well its a good question, infact its an excellent question’. That was the extent of his reply. Ambika Soni was so charmed by his inanity, that she almost burst out laughing. Shotgun had no clue whatsoever about the whole thing.
RK-Bhai another great write up! I’ve always been a big fan of Shatrugan Sinha… Such memorable performances…
If anyone hasn’t seen “Dost” then find a copy, its on DVD. Its a very good film with excellent performances, the best of the lot being from Shatrugan Sinha. There is a brilliant song in the film written by the great Anand Bakshi “Aa bata de re tujhe kaise jiya jaata hai” in which Shatrugan sings a few lyrics…
“Tho Baftha-e-Khuda, Jisse Darta Hai Apan,
Aur Is Gareebi Mein, Badi Mauj Karta Hai Apan!”
&
“Isliye Tho Bhai, Ruki-Sukhi Jo Mile
Pet Bharne Ke Liye,
Aur Kafi Do Gaj Hai Zameen,
Jeene Marne Ke Liye”
What charisma that man has! If you’re not a fan watch this film and you WILL become a fan..
A couple of other lesser known but pretty good Shatrugan Sinha films include:
“Be-Reham” (with Sanjeev Kumar & Reena Roy, a good film centering about the life of police officers)
“Dil-E-Nadaan” (co-starring Rajesh Khanna, Smita Patil & Jaya Pradha. A mature love triangle with good performances)
The rest you’ve pretty much mentioned already…
BTW, here’s a link to an article/interview in which Shotgun speaks on Big B…
http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/oct/11shatru.htm
Wow RK bhai… Fantastic article on Shot Gun..the most under-rated superstar…
I had always wondered..if not for Amjad Khan..then who for Gabbar…and i could never think of any other name but Shot gun sinha…KHAMOSHHH!!!!
tony – shaadi ke baad is another golden oldie movie in which shotgun played a hatke role.
OM, well said,
shot gun is the only other soul on earth we can imagine in gabbar’s role IF NOT Amjad…we can say he would have done it his own way, own style
waiting to see what his close friend veeru has done to gabbar in rgv ki sholay
rk
pl add a paragraph on his style of acting.i find it incomplet without that.we the filmbuffs know all about his films.he did this..he did that…putting all the facts is important,but more important is anlysis.
anyways its your outlook.i must say its well recorded.
Who can forget lines like “Jali ko aag kehte hain, bujhi to rakh kethe hain”?……
Jai: Theesre Badshah haum hain be Chaparghanchu.
yes this kind of dialogues befitted Shatrughan Sinha most.
Thanks for reminding this. recall that song of Dostana where Amitabh Bachchan is singing in party,” Mere dost kissa ye kya ho gaya, suna hai ki tu bewafa ho gaya”(What has become my friend, you have gone on other way)
Shatru Bhiaya roars as soon as the song is finished, Main Bewafa —–.
Such encounters fetched audience in to the cinema hall. Loud or no loud these factors made many films as super hit. Does not matter if world class directors did not make or approve these things in their films but there have been people who loved these things. Fit them in a different genere but let them go on.:)
Wb: Thanks for correcting me. It just happened that someone asked for 2-3 books of Sheldon and I told to look for Master of the game and if Tomorrow comes and in that shadow mentioned his name as author oif Second lady. Hope soul of Irrwing Wallace does not mind it. But yes Sharara is hindi adaptation of this book. Obviously hindi film cant be that adventurous as the novel is.
Did not you find similarities in Irwing’s another book, ” The Almighty” and Tinu Anand/Javed Akhtar’s AB starrer “Mein Azad Hun”.
I am also waiting for “French Guana”:)
GWL: Its hard to dissect the nexsus between political parties and leaders in India. If you meet any good political journalist who can speak you freely then they will tell you how Shatrughan Sinha was targeted and sidelined by his opponents within the party with the help of leaders of other parties. Film stars have power over people but inside the parliament scene is different. and inside the political parties scenes can be very different. These leaders wont give weightage to Shatrughan Sinha or any other film star as their fan. Its hard to take power from these leaders. Shatrughan Sinha paid the price to take stand against powerful political leaders and that too openly. But to full credit to Shatrughan Sinha, he became the first film star to become cabinet minister in centre. He has guts. Like his films, he tried there and sometimes got success amd sometimes got no success. But he lived on his own conditions. That matters:)
Tony:
Dil-e-nadan had two beautiful songs of Kishor and Lata. Perhaps music was by Khaiyaam.
Another film where Shatrughan Sinha shows his talent is “Khan Dost” and film brings out Raj Kapoor the actor also. Perhaps this film should be reviewed.:)
Om: and then that scene should have been different where Gabbar asks Kalia” tera kya hoga kalia”
Shatrughan Sinha would have asked,” Kyon be kabutar kalia,
But yes one scene I imagine Shatrughan Sinha might have done better and different than Amjad Khan where he shouts,” Us din kachahari mein itta taap mujhko, mauka milta to wahin sale ka tetuan daba deta, par kya karta, char char police wale ghere the, haath mein hathkadi pairon mein berhi”
But Gabbar Singh’s role was for Danny, who refused at last minute because he was busy in Dharmatma of Firoz Khan. Role of Gabbar has full potential.
ajay: for your sake, a paragraph is added.:)
aditi: yes its difficult to forget many dialogues said by Shatrughan Sinha on screen.
In real life also he has a full collection of Sh
thanks.
RK-: u r spot on, in some cases we cannot compare our people with International makers, who cares when people loved him on the screen,
he is an entertainer to the core and who can forget his confectious smile and confident walk,
i have never seen him get intimidated in the presence of any bigger star of his generation…
Rk: Main Azad hoon is a pukka remake of ‘John Doe’
DPac:
Which “John Doe” Frank Kapra’s?
yes, thanks DPac.
we will have to search if Javed Akhtar’s work as a screen play writer ever gave any original script?;) which got no inspiration from old films?
rk – i found similarities between almighty theme and the movie *new delhi* – orig. malayalam, directed by joshi, remade in hindi with jeetendra.
dpac is spot on. main azad hoon is frank capra’s meet john doe
yeap i got to see john doe on doordarshan (of all places!!!) loong before ‘main azad hoon’ came on screen.
on a diff note, salim/javed’s sholay is forever been compared to ’seven samurai’. believe it or not i still cry when amitabh dies in the end…
and i still acknowledge the movie in so many ways..
but i haven’t seen any other movie which has plagiarised soo much from soo many movies, that it makes me puke.
case in point is a scenebyscene cutbycut copy of the family mass murder scene in sholay which is taken from once upon a time in america.
I was amazed by the whole clip when i first watched sholay (and during multiple subsequent times) BUT once i saw the other version it was like PHAat$%^&*()_+!!!!!!!
and GAbbar is like carbon copy of “Gian Maria Volont
point being i can always understand inspiration but there are too many cut/paste scenes in sholay to really give any credit to salim/javed. but the cast.. KUDOS all the time any time
Wb: New Delhi of Jeetendra. could not see it:(
Had heard about other film of Jeetdendra with Anu Aggarwal(Ashiqi fame) that it was
it was a staright copy of some hollywood thriller of that time. could not see that film either.
DPac:
Sholay is on high list because of performances and direction as director made scenes so impressive.
But on a very serius note, I am curious
Javed Akhtar ( as per his own account) was living in Mahakali caves and it was not possible for him to see these foreign films atleast before he got a chance to write his first script. and Salim Javed gave first hit film Hathi Mere Satthi in 1971. That means they could have got money after this film. and Sholay might have taken atleast 6 months of shooting and was released in 1975. and in 3 years between 72-75 Salim Javed wrote some successful films. Did they get to see all these old western films in those years to copy? Did they make lot of foreign trips? VHS were not available. How they saw these films? Or they got somebody’s collection somewhere?
Or they got some magazines where there were details of these films?
It shd be interesting search.
RK: have no clue how they got to see it. but u gotta see it to believe it. the mass murder scene in sholay has nothing more or less than what is there in ‘once upon…..’
ditto copy… pooora
even the transition to the next scene when they show the close up of the kid and the next shot of the train stopping at the station…
and i used to be a big time fan of that particular scene…
the music ..
the cuts….
the trasitions etc etc
DPac: These things seriusly make me curious to know the source of Salim-Javed inspirations. Javed Akhtar’s scene does not look convincing to see these films before. Was it Salim Khan’s Inspirations?
Or Ramesh Sippy himself had seen these films and he provided material to Salim-Javed? Ramesh Sippy was in a position to live abroad. Did he get education abroad?
Or FTII’s library had these films or some other library at Bombay in that time?
Someone should ask Salim-Javed, how they copied or got inspiration from these western films?
But one thing should be added here that they copied or took inspiration from western films but still they could write screen plays which appealed to masses. These days our filmi writers and directors have thousands of DVDs and often copy also from there but still dont bring any film which appeal to a large cross section of society. Thats a factor which goes in favour of Salim-Javed.:)
RK: it helps being a Sergio Leone fan it this case.
u gotta see it to believe it!
all said and done, sholay is not a remake of anything as a whole (like whats done these days – Bhatt camp take note)
it somehow came up with a perfect mixture.
that the mixture ended up making bollywood the cliche it has become is … well, what can one do!!
DPac:
This is fine to be Sergio Leone fan.Now we can see all these films through DVDs but in 60s, how when TV was not there, how authors like Salim-Javed could see these films? They had no means to enjoy this luxury. That was/is my curiosity. which only Salim-Javed can satisfy
Bhatt Camp recycle their own products also.
Kabza rechristened as Ghulam:d
Has the discussion changed from Shatrughan Sinha to Salim-Javed.
I am very happy to see somebody writing about Shatrughan Sinha. My favorite scene of him is in “Ranbhoomi”. He smokes a cigaratte. Makes a circle. From a small circle of smoke it becomes a big circle. Shatruji pokes his finger in the centre of the circle and the smoke gets scattered.
There is a remake of “The Untouchables” with Kumar Gaurav and Shatrughan Sinha. The movie is Jurrat, directed by David Dhawan. Watch it. Other movies I liked him very much were the female oriented movies Khoon Bhari Maang, Sherni, etc. “Mera Dost Mera Dushman” is also a very very good film. The film has Shatrughan Sinha, Danny, Smita Patil, Sanjeev Kumar, directed by Raj Khosla. He had many successful multistarrer films in the 80’s like Aag Hi Aag, Ilzaam, Loha, Insaniyat Ke Dushman, etc.
RK had asked for the Jeetendra Anu Agarwal movie. It is “Khalnaika” remake of “The Hand that rocks the cradle”.
Justin : discussion is still on Shatrughan Sinha. only we sometimes go away from main subject like Hindi films go suddenly to switzerland under the excuse of songs and dances:)
ya you are right that film was khalnaiyka. Thanks.
Have you seen Kalka of Shatrughan Sinha. I have not seen but heard it was good!
This may lead to a discussion of Govinda, but I’ve never seen Ilzaam… Shatrughan was in that?? Is it worth watching?
Aag Hi Aag was a typical, quintessential 80’s action masala potboiler co-starring Chunky Pandey & Dharmendra. It was ok. I prefer “Teesri Aankh” (remove Chunky & replace with Rakesh Roshan)…
Ilzaam is worth watching. It’s about Govinda, a criminal, who hides in the house of Shatrughan Sinha, a police officer. I think you should watch the movie to know the remaining story. I liked the movie. Great and memorable songs like I am a Street Dancer, Pehle Pehle Pyar Ki kya hai yeh deewangi, Pyar Kiya Hai Pyar Karenge, etc.
Sherni is a Phoolan Devi type of movie with Sreedevi as the dacait and Shatrughan Sinha as the police officer.
Mera Dost Mera Dushman is a Sholay type of movie with Shatrughan Sinha, a reformed Dacait, trying to protect the villagers from the dacaits. But, the people who he is against now are the people who he had considered as family. I loved this movie.
“Vishwanath” was a movie which was shot without a script. You can read about that by clicking on the link below.
http://www.screenindia.com/20010202/cover3.htm
Thanks for the info on Ilzaam… it was Govinda’s first release wasn’t it? Kabhi waqt nikaal kar dekhni padegi…
Yeah I’ve seen Vishwanath though its been quite a few years. I remember it being very entertaining…
Tony: I think Love 86 was Govinda’s first release where he played lead role. Ilzaam came 2-3 months later. But that song I am a street dancer was very popular.
Amit Kumar was singing that song on some show which was telecasted on TV live and Amit Kumar sang it with so much zest with full body movement that zip of his trouser was opened and he had to turn back to fix it up:d
Govinda had become craze for sometime because of his dances.:)
In his latest AAN- Man at work Shtrughan sinha was not given enough importance as given to Akshay and suniel shetty. He was totally ignored.
perhaps Amitabh Bachchan refused to do the film and then Sinha was came in the picture for Amitabh’s role.
In AAN he was not given good dialogues, screen presence with other stars.
I don’t know why director did not try to use sinha’s talent?
LOL @ RK… thats hilarious!
Shailesh, yeah I totally agree… I was disapointed that Shatruhan was so underused… Im not saying the script should’ve catered to him but when you have an asset use it to the best you can… even the scenes he was given lacked fire…
I wonder if anyone will cast Shatrughan in a powerful role… like a ruthless senior lawyer whose fighting a case against an arrogant young lawyer, preferably played by Akshaye Khanna (can you tell I have a script in mind…lol)
I wonder if you can send me phone/mobile nos &Email address for Shatrughan Sinha and Karan Joher.
I know this kind of enquery mail goes to tresh, but see if u can help this time .
Thanks.
pls supply the above
Michael,
Through Google you easily can search website of Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.
BTW this link is here for your reference
(1) For Karan Johar,
http://www3.dharma-production.com/ContactUs/ContactUs.aspx
(2)For Mr Shatrughan Sinha’s contact details, you may search for website of Upper house of Indian Parliament. He is member of that house.
Though you may easily get postal address of his residence in Mumbai(Bombay).
I HAVE DONE ACTING COURSE FROM DFI IN DELHI
SO PLS GIVE OPPORTUNITY
AND I HAVE SOMETHING EXPERIENCE
well wen it comes to shotgun himself , he is second to no one , in current scenario of todays actors – They have a long way to go to even come close to this men – his larger then life image, perosna ,personality ……….
REEL LIFE TO REAL LIFE SHTRUGHAN SINHA SUCCSESS
IS OUTSTANDING AND WELL DESERVING.I THINK THAT SHATRUGHAN SINHA EVERYWERE RESPRCTED AND ACCEPTED WITH NICE MANNER,& ARTICULATIVE.SHOOTGUN STILL GLAMOUROUS,APEALING, DEMANDABLE,INSTANT ANSWERABLE,GOOD ORETER, BOLD & HANDSOME PERSONALITY. WITHOUT SHOOTGUN NOT POSSIBLE ANY TYPE OF COMPIGNING ,REVERCE STYLE FILM,AND SUPERB DIALOGUE.MR.SHATRUGHAN SINHA HAVE GREAT SENSE OF HOUMOUR , IT IS ALWAYS OBSERVED BY MASS PEOPLE REGARDING HIS VISION, HE REALY THINK FOR OUR COUNTRAY.MAJOR EXAMPLE OF BOLDNESS EVERY FILM STAR COMES IN POLTICS AND JOINED IN RULING PARRTY BUT SHATRUGHAN SINHA JOINEDIN POLTICS OPPOSITION PARRTY AND CREATED HISTORY FIRST TIME ANY FILM STAR BECOME CHANGE IN CABINET MINISTER THAT IS SHATRUGHAN SINHA,THIS IS GENRAL KNOWLEGE OF INDIA. IN MINISERY HE WAS SUCCSESSFUL ,LOTS OF WORK DONE IN FIRST TIME IN INDIA IN HEALTH &SIPPING MINISTERY. MY OPENION IS SHATRUGHAN SINHA FUTURE ASSET OF INDAIN POLTICS & LEASEND FLIM ACTOR. -RAKESH RANJAN BABLU,09334387185
i am the biggest ever fan of shatrughan shina and loved the way various people said so much good -good things about him.just waiting for a performance like mere apne, kala pathar,nasib,gautam govinda,aag-hi-aag,dost,khan dost,dostana,Dil-E-Nadaan,Be-Reham,anterjali yaatra,bhai ho to aisa,insaniyat ke dushman.rampur ka lakshman,khudgarj to name a few.
@Sunil (49),
How you can be biggest fan of Shatrughan Sinha?;)
BECAUSE SHATRUGHANSINHA IS THE BEST NO AMITABH CAN BECOME SHATRUGHAN SINHA
He is definitely the best actor in its own style Bollywood might have ever been produced, But it was sheer a bad luck or not taking right decision at right time, he could not reach to the height where he should be. We are missing him a lot by not seeing him very frequently in Hindi movies. Comparing him with Amitabh is not required as everybody knows that Amitabh came to Indian film Industry with a piece of paper from a well known political party of india to find a favour in getting the film. But whereas he never had any god father in bollywood, and he made his own place.
@Sujeet Kumar,
Have you seen that piece of paper which Amitabh Bachchan was carrying?
Has that piece of paper carried Amitabh Bachchan to the heights and still keeping him active in acting profession and still pushing him to give quality work?
If piece of papers can make someone beloved person for masses then all the sons and daughters of powerful politicians could have become super stars.
When mind ceases to see beyond stupid things, its better to go to a place filled with natural beauty and sit at the bank of a river away from all kind of impressions, and there that flowing water will certainly bring an appropriate education to the mind which is otherwise full of inertia and then there is a possibility that there will be enough room in the mind to keep things in right context.
@Sujeet,
And top of that if you apply your advanced mind sitting in 2008, you believe that a Primeminister will write letter to a filmmaker whose films were hardly seen in cinema halls. When whole film industry could have followed the instructions of the PM then a newcomer will carry letter to a man who was basically a writer and not a filmmaker in real sense.
Amazing logical thoughts!!!!