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When Amjad Khan, Sachin Pilgaonkar also helped shoot Sholay; latter reveals Ramesh Sippy directed only scenes involving Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra
Actor-director Sachin Pilgaonkar reflected on his role as an assistant director in Sholay, revealing that Ramesh Sippy mainly directed stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra.
The 1975 film Sholay remains a revered classic in Indian cinema, celebrated even to this day. Recently, actor Sachin Pilgaonkar disclosed that Ramesh Sippy was not the sole director for the entire film; he primarily focused on directing Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, and Sanjeev Kumar. Pilgaonkar also mentioned that much of the film was directed by the second unit of the film.
Sharing intriguing anecdotes from the Sholay sets, actor-director Sachin Pilgaonkar, who served as an assistant director on the film, revealed insights into its production. In a recent interview with Kunal Vijaykar on his YouTube channel Khane Mein Kya Hai, Sachin explained that Ramesh Sippy opted to have a second unit handle certain action sequences that did not involve the main stars, consisting mainly of brief passing shots.
For this, he enlisted the expertise of renowned stunt filmmaker Mohammed Ali and action director Azim. Additionally, Azim brought in two individuals from Hollywood, Jim and Jerry, to assist. Sachil added that Ramesh aimed to have representatives who could understand the film’s context, given their international background.
At that time, he humorously noted that the only two 'useless' members in the unit were Amjad Khan and himself. He said, "At that time, there were only two bekaar (useless) people in the unit: one was Amjad Khan and the other one was me."
Ramesh Sippy acknowledged the emerging directorial interests of Sachin and Amjad, which led him to involve them in the production. Sachin humorously remarked that Sippy asked if they would like to represent him, likening it to a blind man asking for one eye but unexpectedly receiving two. This opportunity enabled him to stay on set, even during times when the second unit was not actively filming.
He further explained that Ramesh was only expected to be on set when Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, and Sanjeev Kumar had scenes to shoot. During the rest of the production, Sachin and Amjad managed the remaining scenes. “Ramesh was supposed to come only when Dharamji, Amitji and Hari bhai (Sanjeev) had work. He shot those portions and we handled the remaining scenes,” Sachin added.
In Sholay, Sachin portrayed the character Ahmed, while Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra delivered iconic performances as Jai and Veeru, respectively. The film also included notable actors such as Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Amjad Khan, Jaya Bachchan, Iftekhar, A.K. Hangal, Jagdeep, Asrani, Mac Mohan, and Viju Khote in significant roles.
Regarded as one of the highlights of the writing duo Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar's careers, this action-adventure drama was produced by G.P. Sippy. Upon its release, it became the highest-grossing Indian film ever.
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