Sholay: Not Ramesh Sippy, Gabbar Singh aka Amjad Khan and Sachin Pilgaonkar directed most of the flick!

Ramesh Sippy's action-adventure flick Sholay recently completed 49 years of its release. Starring Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri (Bachchan) and debutant Amjad Khan in major roles, the cult classic also had several other actors including Sachin Pilgaonkar. The movie remains a true Indian cinematic treasure.

But, did you know that Ramesh Sippy only directed the scenes with lead actors and most of the film was directed by Gabbar Singh aka Amjad Khan and Sachin Pilgaonkar?

During a recent interview with Kunal Vijaykar on his YouTube channel Khane Mein Kya Hai, the veteran actor revealed that he and Amjad directed some of the crucial scenes of the movie.

Recalling the days of Sholay, Sachin said, "Rameshji decided to have a second unit to do some action sequences that don’t feature the main stars. These were just passing shots. For this, he had a director of stunt films, Mohammed Ali Bhai. He was a renowned stunt filmmaker, and with him was an action director, Azim bhai. And the latter got two guys from Hollywood, Jim and Jerry."

Sachin Pilgaonkar in Sholay

Further, he added that the director wanted two persons to represent him because the people who came from other countries are not aware about the movie and the sequences. 

"At that time, there were only two bekaar (useless) people in the unit: one was Amjad Khan and the other one was me,” added Sachin.

Furthermore, Sachin also revealed that Sippy came to the sets when the scene involved Dharmendra, Amitabh and Sanjeev. The remaining portions were handled by Sachin and Amjad.

Amjad Khan in Sholay

Notably, Sholay, written by writer-duo Salim Khan-Javed Akhtar, remains one of the most successful movies. While Dharmendra and Amitabh played rhe iconic roles of Veeru and Jai, respectively, Hema played Basanti and Jaya played Radha's character. While Amjad played the iconic role of notorious dacoit leader Gabbar Singh, Sachin played Ahmed's role. Jagdeep, Asrani, Mac Mohan, Viju Khote, Iftekhar and AK Hangal, among others also played short but crucial roles which became iconic.