Sanjeev Kumar, the suave Bollywood star who won a million hearts with his impish smile, passed away on 6 November 1985.
New Delhi: From the devoted lover driven to insanity by his partner’s death (Khilona), and the urban editor navigating the maze of marriage with a feisty, doting wife (Anubhav), to the righteous Thakur on a quest against a ruthless bandit (Sholay): Sanjeev Kumar’s roles span the width of the human experience.
Tuesday, 6 November, marks 33 years since he died at age 47, killed by a congenital heart condition that had not let any man in his family live beyond 50.
Born Harihar Jethalal Jariwala in Surat on 9 July 1938, Sanjeev Kumar epitomised a lethal combination of superstar looks, talent and sincerity that endeared him to legions of cinemagoers.
Fondly known as Haribhai in close circles, Kumar and his family moved to Bombay after spending his early years in Surat.
Kumar started his career as a stage actor with the Indian People’s Theatre Association, one of the first theatre companies of India, in Mumbai, and later joined the Indian National Theatre while still in his early 20s.
His initial stage performances foretold a unique characteristic of his film career as they saw him pull off roles much older than his age. Participating in an adaptation of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at 22, he played the role of an old man. The next year saw him take on the role of a 60-year-old father of six in Damru, a play directed by the iconic A.K. Hangal.
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Bollywood innings
Kumar made his Bollywood debut with a side role in the movie Hum Hindustani (1960), starring Asha Parekh and Sunil Dutt.
However, it was another 10 years before he marked his arrival as an actor with Khilona (1970), where he played a man haunted by the ghosts of a lost love. His performance in the 1972 movie Subah aur Shaam brought him to the notice of Gulzar, who cast him in some of his most memorable films: Parichay, Koshish, Aandhi and Mausam.
In Koshish (1972), Kumar took on one of his most challenging roles as one half of a deaf and mute married couple finding their way through life. This performance won Kumar one of his two National Awards, the other being for Dastak in 1970. Dastak, one of the most important movies of the 1970s, is the story of a newlywed couple’s struggles as they set up home in a notorious red-light district.
In Aandhi (1975), meanwhile, he played the estranged husband of an ambitious politician. The movie, hugely controversial at the time on account of the perceived similarities between the protagonist and the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is counted among Indian cinema’s gems, in no small part for its timeless score.
Kumar also dabbled in comedy, with his double-role in Angoor (1982) earning him a spot in Forbes India’s 25 best acting performances in 2013, when the Indian cinema completed 100 years.
Sanjeev Kumar won the National film award for best actor for his performance in the movie.
The other comedies he starred in include Manchali (1973), Pati Patni aur Woh (1978), Biwi O Biwi (1981), and Seeta aur Geeta (1972).
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As Thakur in Sholay (1975) and the patriarch Raj Kumar Gupta in Trishul (1978), Kumar proved he could well hold his own in multi-starrers.
More than 10 movies starring Sanjeev Kumar were released after his death, with the last one, Professor Ki Padosan, releasing in 1993. When he died, only about three-fourths of the movie was complete, and so the plot had to be modified to explain the absence of Kumar’s character.
Personal life
For all his success as an actor, Kumar reportedly had a troubled personal life marred by unrequited love, as well as a drinking problem he developed in the late 1970s.
Kumar was reportedly turned down by ‘Dream Girl’ Hema Malini, who was said to be the love of his life. Some accounts also suggest they were in a relationship, but the match was rejected by Malini’s mother.
Actress and singer Sulakshana Pandit, 10 years his junior and his co-star from Uljhan (1975), proposed to him, but her advances were rejected by Kumar, according to her sister Vijeta Pandit.
Friend Anju Mahendru told Filmfare that Kumar always attracted a lot of attention from women, but he remained a bachelor till his death.