SANJEEV KUMAR - A CLASS APART

SANJEEV KUMAR - A CLASS APART

- Rajesh Subramanian

He dared to be different. His only prerequisite was that the role had to be challenging. Sanjeev Kumar was indeed an once in a lifetime marvel.

After watching a play Prithiviraj Kapoor went backstage to meet the actor who had brilliantly enacted an old man. To his utter shock he discovered that the actor was a twenty year old, who introduced himself as Haribhai Jariwala. It was perhaps the first major compliment the actor had received, who would blossom into the versatile virtuoso Sanjeev Kumar, in the years to come.

Born to Act

After a brief stint in an acting school, Sanjeev debuted in 1960 with Hum Hindustani. He had flopped in the audition opposite Meena Kumari during the casting of Aarti and was rejected by the Rajshris. If his stellar act

opposite Dilip Kumar in Sangarsh earned him fame then with Khilona he entrenched himself in the industry. What followed was box office hits like Seeta Aur Geeta, Manchali, Sholay, Trishul, Dastak, Anubhav, Mausam, Parichay, Koshish, Aandhi, Pati Patni Aur Woh and Sanjeev Kumar joined the galaxy of stars of the 70’s.  However, what makes him special is that he accepted challenges at a time when he could have played safe by doing conventional roles. Whether as Jaya Bachchan’s father in Parichay, a deaf and mute in Koshish, a mentally imbalanced man in Khilona, an ageing thakur in Sholay, a business 

tycoon in Trishul or the nine different characters in Naya Din Nai Raat, Sanjeev Kumar came up trumps giving each character a realistic touch with his powerhouse talent.   

Gulzar’s Pet

He had a special rapport with Gulzar with whom he did memorable films like Parichay, Koshish, Aandhi, Mausam, Angoor, Namkeen. "For me he was the complete actor. What most people do not know is that I knew Haribhai from the late 50s. We were both with the Indian National Theatre where I would write plays and he was a stage actor. Sanjeev was a student of P.D.Shenoy. In my life there were two anchors one was Pancham (R D Burman) and the other Haribhai“, says the lyricist cum filmmaker before revealing, “After he gave his first shot in Sangarsh (1968), I overheard Dilip Saab telling H S Rawail, the producer - director ‘Is ladke ko kahan se le aaye. He is such a good actor”. The thespian would have least imagined       

that 14 years hence the same actor would come again face to face and score over in the confrontation scene in Vidhaata (1982) directed by Subhash Ghai.

Hidden Pathos

He broke all the conventions of star system and yet surfaced a star in his own right. He never reported to shoots on time and earned the notorious tag of ‘late lateef’ but from the moment he arrived on the set he took complete charge and bewildered everyone with his impeccable flair for acting. While his professional life was going great guns with a gamut of roles, awards and recognition, his personal front was riddled with poignance. His romantic association with Hema Malini 

failed and according to industry sources he could never recover from that setback. His fling with Sulakshana Pandit progressed aimlessly and he couldn’t settle down like his contemporaries. While his histrionic ability stood out in films like Shatranj ke Khiladi, Angoor, Swarg Narak, Devta, Hamare Tumhare, Hum Panch, Namkeen and Vidhaata. He became increasingly careless about his looks and let himself bloat up. He was a director’s delight but at sharp six in the evening he packed up and left for the day. Alcohol became his weakness and he indulged in over eating. Very few are aware that Sanjeev Kumar firmly believed that there was a curse on his family that the males would not live beyond the age of fifty. His father had died young. His younger brother Nikul Jariwala, who made the film 'Do Waqt Ki Roti', which never released, died 

suddenly when he was just 36. His other brother Kishore Jariwala, who was a failure as an actor and a music director also bid adieu when he was forty nine years and ten months old. On 6^th November 1985 Sanjeev Kumar, who remained a bachelor all his life, died of a massive heart attack. He was just 47. An actor par excellence, who could essay any character with consummate ease and deliver a flawless performance, Sanjeev Kumar’s name is indelibly etched in the hearts of cineastes and the annals of Indian cinema as one of the greatest actors ever. 

@ nosstalgiaaathemag