'Sholay' actor claims he directed most of film with Amjad Khan

Indian actor-director Sachin Pilgaonkar, who essayed Ahmed in Ramesh Sippy’s ‘Sholay’, claimed that he and Amjad Khan directed most part of the film instead of the filmmaker.

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During a new interview with Indian journalist and YouTuber Kunal Vijaykar, Sachin Pilgaonkar shared that he and Amjad Khan aka Gabbar Singh, co-directed some of the crucial scenes of ‘Sholay’, whereas, Sippy mainly lent his expertise to helm the scenes with lead actors Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar.

“Rameshji decided to have a second unit to do some action sequences which don’t feature the main stars. These were just passing shots,” recalled Pilgaonkar.

He continued, “For this, he had a director of stunt films, Mohammed Ali bhai. He was a renowned stunt filmmaker, and with him was an action director, Azim bhai. And the latter got two guys from Hollywood, Jim and Jerry.”

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“He (Ramesh) wanted two persons to represent him because these people came from other countries. How would they know about the film and what’s happening? At that time, there were only two bekaar (useless) people in the unit: one was Amjad Khan and the other one was me,” divulged the actor and added that Sippy was ‘supposed to come only when Dharamji, Amitji, and Hari bhai (Sanjeev Kumar) had work’.

“Rameshji shot those portions, and we handled the remaining scenes,” concluded Pilgaonkar.

Notably, one of the most influential Indian films of all time, Ramesh Sippy’s ‘Sholay’ was headlined by Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan.