Desi Train

Sanjeev Kumar, a.k.a. Harihar Jariwala, a.k.a Hari-bhai. Boon to the world of art and cinema. The most precious gift to movie lovers. No one, and I mean no one in the entire Indian movie industry from its birth to present, comes close to the genius of SK, when it came to portrayals of sensitivity or complex emoting or masked emotion relay – the art of letting the audience know what an actor is feeling/thinking without the actor speaking a word.

Except for Dilip Kumar, Kamal Hassan, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri (and most recently glimpsed in Irrfan), I have yet to see anyone, anywhere, come close to the bar, raised sky high by SK. Perhaps they, up there, make humans like SK probably one in a century.

Sanjeev Kumar - Born: 1938, Passed away: 1985, about 136 movies in his career, starting in the year 1954. Some, I have seen, many I haven’t. Here’s a list of some of the most precious gems that I have chosen on purpose, to depict SK’s wide span of characters and depth of acting that went in to bring those characters alive….starting with the greatest blockbuster in Indian cinema…

Sholay (1975) – Thakur Baldev Singh
“Mujhe Gabbar Chahiye…” (I want Gabbar) – If anyone can say this more menacingly with eyes full of such hate and intensity, let’s award that person the title of the king of Bollywood….
Or when he locks on Gabbar’s (the late Amjad Khan in his most brilliant role of all times) neck and in low intensive voice goes “Yeh haath nahin…phaansi ka phanda hain” (This not a hand but the noose of death)….

Or when he coolly, with just an air of supremacy answers a dazed Veeru and Jai who question his intelligence by getting them attacked by hired goons – “Main dekhna chahta tha, maine tumhe yahan bulake galti to nahin ki..” (I wanted to see if I hadn’t made a mistake by calling you here)

Sholay was balanced, the most balanced film ever made. Take out one of the characters (yes, even Dhanno) and the story would crumble. The intense portrayal of Thakur Baldev Singh was one of the main pillars which bore the heavy weight of the classic movie Sholay.

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Naya Din Nayi Raat (1974) – Portrayal of 9 (or was it 7?) different characters
If there was any doubt about the histrionics of SK, then NDNR simply came out and squashed any doubts that would ever have been. The story begins with Jaya Bhaduri running away from getting married and in the process lands up at different places with different characters – all of them portrayed brilliantly by SK. From a dacoit to a pansy theater actor to a doctor to…..the man Bhaduri initially ran away from getting married. SK was one of the first who got into the skin of the character by following the route of complete transformation. That meant the get up, clothes, makeup, speech modification etc. NDNR is a complete school for aspiring actors to check out and learn how effectively SK jumps from one character to another.

Koshish (1972) – a deaf and mute Haricharan Mathur
Before Kamal Hassan made us cry, simply via his controlled facial expressions, there was SK. If there is one question I would like to ask Kamal then it would be to know- how and to what extent has he been influenced and enamored by Sanjeev Kumar. Unfortunately they acted in only one not so famous movie (Yaadgaar, 1984) before SK passed away. Kamal in so many ways reminds me of SK and I wish they could have acted in more movies together. SK makes you cry and cry hard and makes you applaud and commend every time the deaf-mute Haricharan Mathur wins over the hurdles of life ably supported by his wife. Both SK and Bhaduri were sent to the school for specially gifted to learn the sign language for this movie. Gulzar brought in SK and Jaya Bhaduri for Koshish as a deaf and mute couple and their ordeals. When Bhaduri dies later in the movie, SK raises their son alone and later has to deal with the fact that his son – with no disabilities – falls in love with a deaf girl.
Koshish was made way before its time and the credit for this goes to the genius of Gulzar. In his biography you get to know how Gulzar came across SK and got to know him by watching SK’s plays during the theater days.
Koshish was one of many movies which brought together SK and Jaya Bhaduri. SK died a bachelor. Recollecting many incidents read all over about SK, I find that he was always unlucky in love. His proposal for marriage was first rejected by Jaya Bhaduri and years later by another super-star, Hema Malini.

Swarg Narak (1978) – Tripathi
I wanted to mention this movie before I forgot about this gem, which hardly anyone remembers. This deserves a mention because it had SK in a comic role, right at the time when SK was doing the serious or tragic roles left, right and center. This role of SK was a breath of fresh air amongst his heavy duty glycerin flooded characters around 1978. Swarg Narak revolves around the lives of three couples and how they cope the ups and downs of life and the misunderstandings and how they clear it up. SK as Tripathi was the smooth talking, cunning bastard who would remind his landlord (each time the landlord came for collecting rent), on how the landlord should take care of his blood pressure or his chances of a heart attack would increase and that he should go home and rest, and in the process making the landlord forget about the rent. The getup SK used was a long haired wig, white clothes and carrying a tote bag on his shoulder – think of an old fashioned music teacher with thick rimmed glasses, long hair, long tilak on the forehead, long shoulder bag made of cloth…you get the picture.
Point to note is that SK was one of the best in makeup and wigs in Bollywood. It would be years and years after SK’s passing away before actors themselves started taking an active interest in make up, wigs and character getups.

Yehi Hai Zindagi (1977) – Anand Narayan
What happens when you are a poor laborer, with a wife and grown up kids and to make ends meet - you steal the money your wife has put as an offering at Lord Krishna’s feet. Answer: Lord Krishna appears in front of you and the games begin. SK as Anand Narayan is from the poor class, who is wary when Lord Krishna (Vikram Gokhale in one his first appearances in Bollywood) appears in front of him. He is cautious and looking for the mischief Krishna may be playing with him in the next couple of days. When Krishna asks him what he wants, SK declares he wants a lot of money. But little does he realize his folly when he agrees to give up things Krishna will take away from him in exchange for SK becoming rich. Within days SK becomes rich but realizes he is becoming poorer in terms of happiness. One of the famous scenes where Krishna, as ever cons him in speech is, when a sick and irritated SK takes Krishna to a table and shows him all the medication doctors have prescribed “Look at this, this is terramycin” he screams, Lord Krishna questions “Terra..what?” SK screams back “Mycin”…SK points to another pill “This is Annamycin”..Krishna questions “Anna…what?,” SK screams back “Mycin” and then to another and another each time getting the same question from Krishna “(first half name of medicine)…what?” and SK screams back “Mycin”….In the end Krishna smilingly says “So you accept your sins. Thank you”…SK looks back and then realizes how smoothly Krishna made him say Mycin again and again which implied “Yes. It’s my sin.”
Jaani Dushman (1979) – Thakur/Ghost
This movie finds its way into the list just because of SK’s makeup and his dual portrayal of the gentle Thakur and on the other hand that of the Devil who kills newly wed brides wearing red on their wedding night. The makeup of the devil was long talked about all over after this movie’s release. Once again it showed the details and perfection SK went for to get each aspect of the character right.

Pati Patni aur Woh (1978) – The husband
SK brilliantly with sly humor portrays the role of a married husband who goes out and has an affair with a woman working for him (Ranjeeta). When caught he mends his ways and but on seeing another young beautiful woman entering his office to work as his secretary (Parveen Babi), he slips again. The “wife is sick and dying” story and using the pills in his drawer to con the women into falling for him is flat out superb display of sleekness by SK. “Thande Thande Paani se nahana chahiye…” – the song, became the bathroom anthem for every father and son around that time.

Arjun Pandit (1976) – Arjun Pandit
Hrishikesh Mukherjee joined hands with SK to direct this brilliant masterpiece in the seventies.
SK was Arjun who as a dacoit is transformed into giving his old ways up and assisting the village doctor (Ashok Kumar). Again the virtual transformation of a character from being someone to becoming something else is virtually so transparently portrayed by SK that it leaves you begging for more.

Griha Pravesh (1979) – Amar
What can go wrong when you as a devoted husband with your wife living a lower middle class life, both of you ambitious and penny pinchers and dreaming of buying a nice apartment and are working hard towards it - what can go wrong?. Nothing. Except if someone enters your life who passionately falls in love with you, everything comes crashing down. SK and Sharmila Tagore teamed up as the husband wife team with Sareeka as the young office collegue of SK, who falls in love with him and there starts a crashing of all the dreams one by one. All three lead actors played their roles brilliantly and spell-bonded the serious movie fanatic.
Sareeka had acted as the daughter of SK when she was a child artist 10 years before this movie and in this one she turned into his lover!

Devata (1978) – Tony/Tarun Kumar
Powerful performances by SK running from his past and Danny as a cop who is chasing him, with a tight story and volcanic scenes spread all over the movie gives you a “Devata”. Again brilliantly using the chameleon like ability of SK, Devata first shows SK as a small town simple guy who gets involved in a crime, runs from the law and returns transformed into a powerful, cunning rich man facing his nemesis Danny. Devata is a treat to watch primarily because it had two of my favorites actors in the same movie giving towering mind blowing performances – SK and Danny Denzongpa.

Biwi O Biwi (1979) – Col. Mangal Singh & Shankar
If you haven’t included BOB in your comedy classic list YOU MUST DO IT RIGHT NOW AND RUSH TO YOUR NEAREST VIDEO STORE TO CHECK THIS MOVIE OUT.
Start with a movie which is full of twists and suspense. Add SK as a retired colonel who is strict, disciplined and wants to get his daughter (Poonam Dhillon) married only to an army person. Now add another comedy king – Randhir Kapoor a simpleton, finding success in singing with whom the Colonel’s daughter is in love. So there are complications and situations where Kapoor and Dhillon are trying to meet and ultimately trying to get married. Sorry. Forgot to ask you to add another SK as a young cunning thief whose girlfriend (Yogita Bali) works as the Colonel’s secretary. So there will more comedy scenes. Sorry. Add another twist where the thief SK now masks himself as the colonel SK and starts stealing from everyone. Sorry…Add…oh my God…now that I think of this movie I fail to understand why it isn’t talked as much as the other comedy classics always spoken and discussed about like Padosan, Angoor, Jane Bhi do Yaaron….Again complete usage of SK’s chameleon abilities to portray two different personalities, BOB has SK at his comic best.
In the past blogs I had mentioned Rahul Rawail’s first movie was Love Story. I may be mistaken. The genius of Rawail may have well be used to direct this movie to begin with – Biwi O Biwi

To be concluded….

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 at 10:36 am
Filed under Bollywood, Superhit Posts
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