Ramesh Sippy recalls Salim-Javed asked him to dub Amjad Khan’s voice in Sholay
Ramesh Sippy recalls Salim-Javed asked him to dub Amjad Khan’s voice in Sholay
Veteran director Ramesh Sippy recalled in an interview that
renowned writers Salim-Javed had urged him to dub the voice of Amjad Khan as Gabbar in
“Sholay”.
This suggestion to Ramesh Sippy came regardless the director having delivered memorable films like Shaan, Seeta Aur Geeta and Shakti.
Infact Sholay remains his most memorable work. In a recent media Ramesh Sippy recalled on various aspects of the film, including living up to its massive, timeless success for the rest of his career. He also divulged details about actor Amjad Khan, who played the legendary role of Gabbar Singh, and how writers Salim-Javed didn’t find his voice menacing enough.
While it is well known that the role of Gabbar was first offered to Danny Denzongpa, Ramesh and the team went ahead with Amjad Khan after his name was suggested by the writers of the film, Salim-Javed.
But, later, the writers asked
him to dub Amjad’s voice. While they had their opinion, he just felt he is a mountain of a man, and his voice not matching that image is in itself very fascinating. He wanted to stick by that and had a strong feeling that as it is the character, the way his voice comes out just makes sense.
In the same chat, when asked about exceeding the budget of the film, he mentioned that the film was supposed to be shot for Rs 1 crore but by the time production ended, the budget was close to Rs 3 crore. The film was being produced by Ramesh’s father GP Sippy and he shared that he never felt any kind of pressure from his father. “GP Sippy was one of the finest entrepreneurs ever in any field.
He (Ramesh Sippy) didn’t feel the pressure because he didn’t apply any pressure on him. He got so involved in the film that if it was taking time, he insisted on getting what he wanted and kept waiting, whether it was for the perfect light or for a perfect shot.
He also shared that Sippy Films was presented with two scripts at that time around by Salim-Javed – Sholay and Majboor. While Ramesh was of the opinion that they should start production on Majboor as the script was ready, his father told him to go ahead with Sholay and “not to waste time” on Majboor. Majboor was then directed by Ravi Tandon and also starred Amitabh Bachchan.
News Edit K.V.Raman
