Birthday Special: G. P. Sippy Who made many great films...

It was August 15, 1975! I had turned twenty-five in June and had fulfilled a promise I had made to myself. I got a steady job on “Screen” weekly after spending two of the most wonderful years of my life at the greatest one-man institution called Khwaja. Ahmed Abbas (K.A.Abbas) from whom I had learned more than all that I had learned in all the years before I was extremely blessed to meet and work with him. I had told myself that, before I turned twenty-five I would give some meaning to my life or I knew I would do nothing in life! It was not an idea that came from a book or some guru, it was an idea that came from a village boy who had decided that he would pursue a goal and not give up no matter what or who might be. It was Abbas Sahab who gave me my first assignment to write a cover story for a leading magazine called “Debonair” and I don’t know how I excelled in it and the management held a party to celebrate the success of the magazine sales which they said was due to my story. The party was held at The Oberoi and the best part for me was the presence of Abbas Sahab (whom I always refer to as Abbas Sahab) the response I got from some big guys was so intoxicating that I was found dead in a drunken stupor! I sat down with a police constable on a wooden bench at a faraway railway station and had to pay the constable a hundred rupees to sleep on that bench till the first train came….

I wrote my first ten articles in “Screen” and one of them was a long article on veteran actor and villain Jayant who had died of cancer the article was based on extensive conversations with his son Amjad Khan who was all set to make his debut as a villain in Ramesh Sippy’s eagerly awaited film “Sholay”. The article was liked by everyone, except some of my seniors, who believed that they were better equipped to write articles… 

I was watching the making of “Sholay” very closely and excited as the release date came near. I knew all the artists working in the film in one form or the other. Still, I knew Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh, Jaya, Sachin, Ekhangal, Jagdeep and now Amjad Khan better. I knew R.D. Burman and Ramesh Sippy but I was aware of the good work done by each member of the unit including the two cinematographers Dwarka Divecha and K. Vaikunth, lyricist Anand Bakshi and music composer R.D. Burman and my friend Jalal Agha and of course Helen without whom no one could imagine making a big Hindi film. In those days film...   

It was 15th August 1975 and the whole country was in a state of excitement! It was Independence Day and it was also the day when “Sholay” was to be released. A grand premiere was arranged at The Minerva in Bombay and like all big premieres the industry was invited but I was not a part of the industry and I was nobody to be invited to such a grand event but I wanted to be present at this one event. I could not sleep that night and kept making hopeless plans about entering Minerva. I reached the office a little early and was surprised to find my editor Mr. S.S. Pillai in his cabin. job in “Screen”, he was kind enough to keep me in the job even when I failed to keep my promise of learning typing (something I still haven’t learned fifty years later and will regret all my life), he gave me the kind of work I couldn’t even dream of, he sent me to outlying places by air and made me stay in five-star hotels at a time when I was living in a “hut”, he paid me four hundred and fifty rupees when I was expecting just one hundred and fifty rupees! On the way to my cabin, I wondered if he could do another miracle for me and arrange for me to attend the premiere of “Sholay”. He made me sit and asked for two cups of tea and then there was a sparkle in his eyes. He asked me if I would like to go to the premiere of “Sholay”. What could I tell him? Before I could answer him, he placed his ticket in my hand and said, “Take this money and get into the cab or you will be late” For several minutes I forgot all about “Sholay” and kept wondering what my life would have been without great men like Abbas Sahab and Mr. Pillai. 

When I reached Minerva, my still young eyes were dazzled. The film started. It was supposed to be a 70.cc print, but the print did not arrive in time and a 35.cc print was screened. It was shocking to see the audience getting restless and by the time the interval came, people had passed judgement on “Sholay”. It was a flop, they said and there was no chance to save it. The verdict was very severe and became more severe with every scene, dialogue and song. The worst was when people from the industry refused to even greet the unit members. There was a graveyard silence all around. 

On the way to Grant Road station, some learned critics were heard talking about how the film was a bad copy of some western film of the second or even a copy of a black and white film called “Khote Sikkey” made with Feroz Khan and directed by Narinder Bedi, the man who openly said after watching “Godfather” that he could make ten films inspired by it. And some went to the cruel extent of comparing the climax of the Dara Singh film with the climax. And some berated Ramesh Sippy for the choice of Amjad Khan to play Gabbar Singh and felt that his original choice of Danny Denzongpa or Shatrughan Sinha would have been far better. There were trade magazines which had “trade guides” and “film information” which were considered the final word on box-office and their editors, 

Mr. B.K. Adarsh ​​and Mr. Ramraj Nahta said that “Sholay” will not run for more than three days...

Yes, they were right. “Sholay” didn’t run for three days. It picked up on the third day. And then didn’t stop running for the next five years and still runs to full houses whenever and wherever it is released. 

It has been forty five years now and Sholay itself is history. Sippy, the producer made many other films before and after but he will always be remembered as the maker of “Sholay”. Ramesh Sippy, his son has directed “Andaz”, “Seeta Aur Geeta”, “Shaan”, “Sagar”, “Shakti”, “Akayla” and other films and major serials like “Buniyaad” and recently directed “Shimla Mirch” a small film which went completely unnoticed but he will have to live the rest of his life as the maker of “Sholay”. Salim and Javed have parted ways long ago. Sanjeev Kumar, Jalal Agha, A.K.Hangal, Mac Mohan, Major Anand, Vijay Khote and Amjad Khan are all part of history now and so are R.D. Burman, Anand Bakshi and Dwarka Divecha and K. Vaikunth. The only witnesses to a grand piece of history are Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jagdeep, Sachin and Amitabh and his wife Jaya. 

Why have we not been able to make another “Sholay” in the last forty-five years? Will this question be answered? Will this question echo in the corridors of time and the pages of history?

It takes time to recognize good work, but it does get recognized. “Sholay” will be remembered on this 15th August and as long as movies are made, no one will be able to forget “Sholay”.  

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