TLI Staff
New Delhi: Every Indian cinema lover knows 1975 Sholay and its iconic characters be it Gabbar Singh, Veeru, Jai, Thakur or Radha. One of the young characters Ahmad who gets killed by Gabbar Singh was portrayed by veteran filmmaker and actor Sachin Pilgaonkar who went on to do films like Balika Vadhu, Nadiya Ke Paar among others.
But very few people know that Sachin not just played a role in the iconic film, but also partially directed the action-packed film. This was revealed while Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar made an appearance on Sony TV’s show India’s Best Dancer.
Sachin at that time was learning the ropes of editing under Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s guidance and while shooting for Sholay, he keenly observed the process of direction which made Ramesh Sippy give him a chance to direct some portions of the film.
“I was 17 years old when Sholay was being made, but the work for the movie had started when I was 16. Before the film Sholay happened, I was learning editing under the guidance of one of my gurus, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, a very renowned editor at that time, and we all know he went on to become one of the renowned director’s. So, during the shoot for Sholay I would sit behind Ramesh Sippy Sir’s chair and notice the way he directed, took each shot, cut, edited them, etc. Meanwhile, Sippy Sir observed me for a few days and finally asked me if I was interested in editing. I told him that I’d trained and worked for Hrishikesh Sir for two years. I believe that it has been my sheer good luck that I had the chance to work with Hrishikesh da for Anand (1971), the movie that I had cut the negatives for. Hishikesh sir used to say, ‘Negatives Sachu baba katega’, he used to call me Sachu baba,” said the actor.
“Coming back to Sholay, Rameshji asked me whether I could be one of the two people that he could trust for a certain action sequence of the film, as he could not be there for that part and wanted two representatives. I was overwhelmed listening to him, and said, ‘How can I take such a big responsibility I am just 17 years old’. He said, ‘age doesn’t matter and I see no relevance, you have been in this industry since you were four and half years old, I don’t look at you as 17 but as a 27-year-old professional’. The second representative was Amjad Khan, who had won multiple awards in his college days for acting, directing, etc. He was very talented, and I used to call him ‘Manju Bhai’. So, the sequence where Sanjeev Kumar, Dharamji and Amitji are in the train hand cuffed, only that part was shot by Rameshji and the rest of the action sequence was shot by Amjad and I. I remember, there was an action sequence where I felt that a bunch of logs exploding would really look good and have an impact on the screen. Rameshji really liked the sequence and patted my back. He has been so genuine and large hearted,” the actor added.
Sachin Pilgaonkar further shared that stalwarts such as Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Meena Kumari, Balraj Sahni, Ramesh Sippy, Guru Dutt would give many opportunities to youngsters and always guided them.