Sanjeev Kumar

Sanjeev Kumar Biography

Can anyone forget the dialogue ‘Yeh haath mujhe dede thakur’ of Sholay? Yes, Thakur without hands in the movie Sholay was played by Sanjeev Kumar, one among the most versatile actors of Bollywood. He left the world in his late 40’s without completing his profile, but the countless roles he have played in the 2 decade period will be remembered forever.

He is one among those brilliant actors who was able to win National awards twice. Movies were Koshish and Dastak. Koshish was a milestone movie in the career of both Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Baduri, were they played the role of duff and dumb couples. He has acted as hero as well as supporting actor in numerous movies, showing his real range. In Sholay, Parichay and Trisul, he acted as an old man, though he was young at that time. It shows the dedication of this great actor and his flexibility to carry on any type of roles given to him. It helped him from type casting to an action hero or a romantic hero. In the movie Mausam, he acted both as young and as old hero.

He started his film journey through Hum Hindusthani in 1960. Yet it was during 70’s, he did the best movies of his career. All the movies that have been nominated for awards belong to either 70’s or 80’s. He was active in the industry giving his valuable contributions till he passed away at a younger age of 47.  He worked both in solo hero movies as well as multistar cast ones. Both proved that his decision was right. Sholay, Trisool, Seeta aur Geetha, Vidhatha and Angoor are the best examples of such movies.

As solo hero, his work in Khilouna, Dastak, Koshish, Mausam, Pati patni aur who, Andhi and Arjun pandit were most noted. He won Filmfare awards twice for Arjun Pandit and Andhi. He got supporting actor award for Shikar in 1969. He was nominated for his memorable performances in Sholay, Mausam, Khilouna, Koshish and a few more movies though, couldn’t win it.

He was unmarried till his death. He was deeply in love with Hema malini and hence didn’t accept the love relationship with actress Sulakshana Pandit till the end. She is still unmarried. When he left the world so suddenly, many of his movies were incomplete and last among them, with his presence got released after 8 years in 1993.

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Updated: May 28, 2018