‘I’m Dharmendra, I’ll kill him’: When Dharmendra wasn’t entirely satisfied with his death scene in Johnny Gaddaar

Sriram Raghavan once recalled how Dharmendra wasn’t entirely convinced about his death scene in Johnny Gaddaar.

In Sriram Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddaar, Dharmendra shone brilliantly.

Dharmendra’s passing on Monday has left fans and well‑wishers across the world reminiscing about some of his most iconic performances. While a Satyakam, Sholay, Chupke Chupke, or Yaadon Ki Baaraat are naturally among the first to be remembered, one of his modern‑day masterpieces remains Johnny Gaddaar. In what was essentially an extended cameo, Dharmendra delivered a performance that still stands apart. However, in an old interview, filmmaker Sriram Raghavan revealed that Dharmendra wasn’t entirely convinced about one crucial scene in the film.

The moment in question comes right at the interval point, where his character is killed by Neil Nitin Mukesh. Initially, the scene was conceived as a stabbing, something the late legend felt didn’t sit well with his character. Recalling the incident in an interview with the Screenwriters Association, Sriram said: “On the day of the shoot, I was sitting with the knife. Dharam Ji saw me and asked, ‘What was that?’ I told him, ‘This is the knife with which Neil was to stab him.’ So he asked me if he could have a look.”

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Sriram handed the knife to Dharmendra, and after inspecting it, the veteran actor told him, “This is fine. I’ll die with this, but it will take me 15-20 minutes to die, and in that time span, I’ll kill him. Because I’m Dharmendra, so I’ll kill him before that.” Sriram was stunned. He went to his DOP (Director of Photography) and repeated what Dharmendra had said. The cinematographer agreed, telling him, “Yeah, he is right, it will look very stupid on screen.” Unsure how to proceed, Sriram took a half-hour break on set, managed to arrange a gun from somewhere, and they eventually shot the scene that way.

Interestingly, Dharmendra’s last film was also with Sriram Raghavan, a war drama titled Ikkis, scheduled for release next month on Christmas. In an exclusive conversation with SCREEN, the film’s co‑writer Pooja Ladha Surti shared that the movie will include a special tribute to the late legend. She said, “Yes, I am sure Sriram and Dinoo (Dinesh Vijan, producer) will do that. His final performance will speak more than any tribute from us, I feel.”

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