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Javed Saab, Sholay, which you co-wrote, was one of Dharamji’s most iconic films?
Before Sholay, he was part of Ramesh Sippy’s Seeta Aur Geeta, which Salim and I wrote. That was also a very big hit. I must tell you that Dharamji was a bit reluctant to work in Seeta and Geeta.
Why was that?
It was an out-and-out heroine film. There was a double role for the heroine, and there were two heroes. Dharamji was too big during that time to do a film where Hema Malini was the hero. But he was kind enough to give us his time for Seeta Aur Geeta.
There, too, he had a comic role?
He had a very funny role. But there were some serious and poignant moments also when he is drunk, and he talks about his loneliness and so on. So it was taken for granted that he would be there in Sholay. There was no doubt that no one else would play Veeru. But who will play Jai’s role? There were many contenders, including Shatrughan Sinha and Raj Kumar.
How did Amitabh Bachchan get Jai’s role?
Amitabh’s Zanjeer was almost completed when we were casting for Sholay. So we showed Ramesh Sippy his trial before the release of the film to convince him to do Sholay. And Dharamji had also put in a word for Amitabh. Salim and I had told Amitabh, ‘You have a good relationship with Dharamji, you should also go and talk to Dharamji that he should take you in this role.’ We were influencing from all sides. And it was good that we took Amitabh Bachchan for Jai’s role. Otherwise, there could have been Shatrughan. There could have been Shatrughan or Rajkumar. I don’t know; there were many candidates.
Would you call Dharamji the comic element in Sholay?
I would say that Dharamji has a great facility. And with a good director, he was capable of giving extremely good performances. He always wanted directors to give him the right guidance. Luckily, he got to work with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Bimal Roy and Ramesh Sippy. He had a lot of potential as an actor. You see, the man who has done Anupama has done Chupke Chupke and Sholay. He was convincing in any kind of character. He blended into whatever character he played. And when we say he was a he-man, if he did a poet’s role in Anupama, why does he look so convincing? We felt he had the personality of a gentle soul who would not be involved in any kind of violence. Then how was he so convincing in Phool Aur Patthar?
Javed Saab, do you remember around the time of Sholay you had co-written another big hit Yaadon Ki Baraat, with Dharmendra in the lead?
Yes, that was before Sholay. I think Zanjeer and Yaadon Ki Baraat were in 1973.
There were similarities between Yaadon Ki Baraat and Zanjeer. Would you agree?
Plot-wise, yes, there were some similarities, like the murder of the hero’s parents. But apart from that, in Yaadon Ki Baraat and Haath Ki Safai, there were two brothers. In Yaadon Ki Baraat, there were three long-lost brothers. Nobody was lost in Zanjeer. But they were lost in sorrow and anger. That commonality was there. In the character of Dharamji in Yaadon Ki Baarat and Amitabh Bachchan in Zanjeer, yes, there were similarities. But there was no commonality because Dharamji would do it in a different way each time. The plot was different. The plot development was different. In the two villains, vendetta was common.
Dharamji’s passing is indeed the end of an era.
This is an overused sentiment. It is like a costume you wear so often that it loses its shape. But in the case of Dharmendra, it is the truth and nothing but the truth. With him, an era has come to an end. He was the last of the Mohicans.
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