Sachin Pilgaonkar claims he co-directed most 'Sholay' scenes
In a recent interview with Kunal Vijaykar on his YouTube channel Khane Mein Kya Hai, actor Sachin Pilgaonkar made a surprising revelation about the iconic Bollywood film Sholay. He claimed that he and late actor Amjad Khan directed significant parts of the film, contrary to popular belief that it was solely directed by Ramesh Sippy.
'Rameshji shot portions with main leads, we handled remaining scenes'
Pilgaonkar explained that Sippy only directed scenes featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, and Sanjeev Kumar. "He was supposed to come only when Dharamji, Amitji, and Hari bhai (Kumar) had work. Rameshji shot those portions, and we handled the remaining scenes." "Rameshji decided to have a second unit to do some action sequences which don't feature the main stars," This unit was led by stunt director Mohammed Ali and action director Azim who were assisted by two Hollywood professionals, Jim and Jerry.
Pilgaonkar and Khan were brought in to 'represent' Sippy
Clarifying his and Khan's roles, Pilgaonkar said, "He (Sippy) 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." He also disclosed that they filmed the famous train robbery scene near Panvel along the Bombay-Poona railway route without Sippy's presence.
'Sholay': A milestone in Bollywood history
In Sholay, Pilgaonkar portrayed the character of Ahmed while Khan played the iconic role of Gabbar Singh. The film, featuring Bachchan and Dharmendra as Jai and Veeru, is considered a milestone in Hindi cinema. It was the highest-grossing Indian film at its time and held this record until Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994) surpassed it. The film also had an impressive run at Maratha Mandir before being overtaken by Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
