New Delhi: It may be known to some of us that Danny Denzongpa was signed to play Gabbar Singh in Sholay but was replaced by Amjad Khan. Director Ramesh Sippy reveals, “He was signed initially. But when the shooting schedule was finalized, he was in Afghanistan shooting for Feroz Khan’s Dharmaatma. He couldn’t make it. We had to look for someone else. And Salim Khan suggested Amjad Khan, saying he’s the son of a fine actor Jayant. We decided to take a look.’’
Sippy recalled that he had seen Amjad Khan in a play with his sister. He said, “It was a play about South Africa. I can’t recall the name, but I remember that he had quite a formidable presence. So we called him in for a look test—he spoke a couple of lines, and it was also a look test with the gear: the army dress, the lips, everything. The results were good enough for me.’’
Sippy had signed Amjad but his shoot wasn’t immediate. Sippy said, “We had a lot of other work first. But he joined from the beginning so that the whole unit could assimilate and he could become comfortable as part of the unit. Still, when we started shooting, it wasn’t easy. His physical movements wouldn’t sync with the dialogue—if he spoke a line, he would stop moving; when he moved, he wouldn’t speak. I didn’t shoot for two days and had him rehearse movements along with the dialogues. Once he reached a point where he was comfortable doing both together as part of his personality, we started shooting.’’
A lot of people wanted Amjad to replaced including Salim and Javed Sippy said, “People suggested it, yes. Even Salim-Javed said we should replace him—not because we didn’t like his personality, but because we couldn’t waste time if he wasn’t ready. But I felt it could happen—and it did. I don’t want to say too much because the results are there for everyone to see.’’