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Amjad Khan (actor)

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Amjad Khan
Amjad Khan in 1982
Born
Amjad Zakaria Khan

(1940-11-12)12 November 1940
Bombay, Bombay Province, British India
(present-day Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)
Died27 July 1992(1992-07-27) (aged 51)
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Alma materSt. Andrew's High School
R. D. National College
Occupations
Years active1951–1992
Known forSholay (1975)
Notable workGabbar Singh
SpouseShaila Khan
Children3 (including Shadaab Khan)
FatherJayant
RelativesImtiaz Khan (brother)

Amjad Khan (12 November 1940 – 27 July 1992) was an Indian renowned actor and film director.[1][2] He worked in over 132 films in a career spanning nearly twenty years. He was the son of the actor Jayant. He gained popularity for villainous roles in mostly Hindi films, the most famous among his enacted roles being Gabbar Singh in the 1975 cult classic film Sholay[3] and of Dilawar in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978).

Early life

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Amjad Khan was born in Bombay, Bombay State, British India on 12 November 1940 into a Sunni Muslim family of Pashtun descent to actor Jayant; who was originally from Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province.[4][5][6][7][8][9]

His younger brother Imtiaz Khan was also an actor. Amjad Khan was educated at St. Andrew's High School in Bandra.

He attended R. D. National College where he held the position of general secretary. During his college and school days, he worked as a theater artist and performed in his college with his brother.

Career

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Main article: Amjad Khan filmography and awards

Before Amjad Khan came to films, he was a theatre actor. His first role was as a child actor at the age of 11 in the film Nazneen in 1951. His next role was at the age of 17 in the film Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (1957).[1] He assisted K. Asif in the film Love And God in the late 1960s and had a brief appearance in the film. The film was left incomplete after Asif's death in 1971, and it was finally released in 1986. In 1973, he appeared in Hindustan Ki Kasam in a small role.

In 1975, he was offered the role of dacoit Gabbar Singh for the film Sholay by Salim Khan, who was one of its writers. In preparation for the role, Amjad read Abhishapth Chambal, a book on Chambal dacoits written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri (actress Jaya Bhaduri's father). Amjad shot to stardom with the movie. His mannerisms and dialogues have become an integral part of the Bollywood lexicon and spawned numerous parodies and spoofs [Specially "Soja Nahi to Gabbar Aajayega"]. Sholay went on to become a blockbuster.[4] Although it boasted an ensemble cast of superstars including Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjeev Kumar, who was nominated that year for the Filmfare award for Best Actor category, Amjad stole the show with his unorthodox and eerie dialogue delivery. Even to this day people fondly remember his dialogues and mannerisms. He later appeared in advertisements as Gabbar Singh endorsing Britannia Glucose Biscuits (popularly known as Gabbar Ki Asli Pasand), the first incidence of a villain being used to sell a popular product.[10]

After the success of Sholay, Khan continued to play negative roles in many subsequent Hindi films in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s – superseding, in terms of popularity and demand, the earlier Indian actor, Ajit. He often acted as villain opposite Amitabh Bachchan as the hero. His role in Inkaar was also presented in terrifying manner. He made his presence felt in Des Pardes, Nastik, Satte Pe Satta, Chambal Ki Kasam, Ganga Ki Saugandh, Hum Kisise Kum Nahin and Naseeb.[11]

Khan was also acclaimed for playing many unconventional roles. In the critically acclaimed film Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) (based on the novel of the same title), by Munshi Premchand and directed by Satyajit Ray, Khan played the helpless and deluded monarch Wajid Ali Shah, whose kingdom, Avadh, is being targeted by British colonialists from the British East India Company. It is the only movie in which he dubbed a song. In 1979, he portrayed Emperor Akbar in the film Meera. He played many positive roles such as in Yaarana (1981) and Laawaris (1981) as Amitabh's friend and father respectively, Rocky (1981) and Commander (1981). In the art film Utsav (1984), he portrayed Vatsayana, the author of the Kama Sutra. In 1988, he appeared in the Merchant Ivory English language film The Perfect Murder as an underworld don. He excelled at playing comical characters in films such as Qurbani (1980), Love Story and Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986). In 1991, he reprised his role as Gabbar Singh in Ramgarh Ke Sholay, a parody of the legendary film which included look-alikes of Dev Anand and Amitabh Bachchan.

He ventured into directing for a brief period in the 1980s, directing and starring in Chor Police (1983) and Ameer Aadmi Gareeb Aadmi (1985), both of the films did not do well at the box office.[1][4]

Amjad was the president of the Actors Guild Association.[1] He was respected in the film industry, and would intervene and negotiate disputes between actors and directors/producers. One such dispute occurred when Meenakshi Seshadri was forced to drop out of Damini (1993) by Raj Kumar Santoshi because she rejected his proposal. Amjad Khan sorted out the matter and made Raj Santoshi take back his harsh decision.[citation needed]

Personal life and death

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In 1972, he married Shaila Khan daughter of Akhtar ul Iman screenwriter and in the following year, she gave birth to their first child, Shadaab Khan. He also had a daughter, Ahlam Khan, and another son, Seemaab Khan. Ahlam married popular theatre actor Zafar Karachiwala in 2011.[8][12][13]

On 15 October 1976,[14][15] Amjad Khan met with a serious accident on the Mumbai-Goa highway which left him with broken ribs and a punctured lung. He was going to participate in the shooting of the film The Great Gambler, starring Amitabh Bachchan.[16]

On 27 July 1992, he died of a heart attack. He was 51.[14][1][8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Amjad Khan Biography, Amjad Khan Profile – Filmibeat". Entertainment.oneindia.in. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Remember the old baddies?". MSN India. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Gabbar Singh". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Obituary: Amjad Khan". The Independent newspaper. 26 August 1992. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2023. The son of Zakaria Khan, a Pathan from the North-West Frontier Province and popular Bollywood character actor of the Fifties and Sixties (screen name Jayant), Amjad Khan was born in Bombay in 1940.
  5. ^ "actor Jayant profile (Amjad Khan's father)". Cinemaazi.com website. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020.
  6. ^ "The Khans of Bombay's Hindi film industry – Gateway House". Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  7. ^ "When Amjad Khan had 'broken' the promise made to Allah, he used to say that I got his punishment- Newslead India". 12 November 2021. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  8. ^ a b c "When Amjad Khan had 'broken' the promise made to Allah, he used to say that I got his punishment". DailyIndia.net website. 12 November 2021. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Jayant profile (Amjad Khan's father)". Swapnil Sansar website. 2 June 2020. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Glucon D Bisuits Amjad Khan | Print Ads | MBA Skool-Study.Learn.Share". Mbaskool.com. 4 February 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Amjad Khan filmography". Complete Index To World Film (CITWF) website. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  12. ^ "Zafar Karachiwala, Ahlam Khan got married". The Times of India. 23 September 2011. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013.
  13. ^ "Born to act: Ahlam Khan Karachiwala". Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Tragic Nostalgia". The Times of India. 4 June 2012. Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  15. ^ ""I was confident my marriage would never break"". Filmfare. 27 July 2015. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  16. ^ "Amitabh and the Goa Connect". The Navhind Times. 19 November 2014. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
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