Asrani was born to play jailor in ‘Sholay’, the role will never be forgotten: Sippy

Veteran actor Asrani will always be remembered for portraying the dictatorial jailer in “Sholay” as it was a role he was born to play, says director Ramesh Sippy.

Condoling the death of the actor on Monday at the age of 84, the “Sholay” director said Asrani seemed “absolutely fine” when they recently met. “It [demise] feels sudden… He did a lot of work but this, stands out. I will long long remember him. It’s a role he was born to play. But saying all this on a day like this doesn’t feel good. It feels maybe that’s the best way to remember him,” Mr. Sippy told PTI in an interview.

Asrani’s character in the movie, which turned 50 this August, was modelled after Charlie Chaplin in “The Great Dictator”. “Sholay” was penned by writer duo Salim Khan and Javed Akthar.

Mr. Sippy said he first worked with Asrani in “Seeta Aur Geeta” and he was impressed with the way the actor performed his scene.

“Then ‘Sholay’ came up and this part was written by Salim-Javed and they discussed it with me. We all thought Asrani would be the right person. We called him, discussed it with him. He was very happy to come and do this role. He was part of the creation of that character,” Mr. Sippy recalled.

The filmmaker praised Asrani for playing the character of the jailor in the most “natural” way.

“He played it naturally; it was like he was born to play the role. Hitler is the most popular person, about whom books are written, stories have been told, the whole world’s attention was on him because of the way he conducted himself, the killings that took place.

“But a comic look at it [Hitler] was [great idea]… He worked so well that people till today remember it. This character will never be forgotten,” the 78-year-old director said.

Mr. Sippy said the character was beautifully written by Salim-Javed and he and Asrani managed to strike the perfect note during the shoot.

“Salim-Javed had a way with words and this became a catch line, and it got caught on very well because of the caricature that he was. Hitler is a German character but instead of ‘Angreezo ke’, you can’t say ‘German’. We didn’t know how many people will understand it. It was improvised and the shape in which it came out seemed to be the right form,” he said.

“The way the four of us managed to bring out the character, then actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra ji in it, all together, it made the whole sequence unforgettable. The character is loud because the comedy is loud,” he added.